For the Sake of Family
by Regal-Song
Summary: CSI BigBang: "It was then that she saw the nobility of gangsters, and that a man no matter how criminal he had been in the past, could do the greatest things for family."
1. Chapter 1

Finally, this is complete and posted to the CSI:BigBang community on Livejournal. So I can get back to my other stories. I hope you all enjoy it and please, let me know what you think.

* * *

He climbed out of the silver Mercedes, his glistening black designer shoes pressing down onto the rough concrete as he stepped aside, looking up at his home with a fond smile. Moving along the path, he reached down to pick up the newspaper from the edge of the flowerbeds and stepped up to the front door. Fishing around in his pocket, he searched for his keys but when he rested his hand against the door, barely applying pressure to the wooden surface, his heart stopped beating for a moment, when it fell open with a quiet creaking sound.

"Hello?" He called as he pushed the door further open and stepped inside. When he heard nothing, he started to sweat. He felt faint as he called again. "Is anyone here?" Nothing.

He followed the silence through the house and out into the living room as the morning sun beamed in through the wide French doors beyond the kitchen. His eyes searched the room and he fumbled with his phone as he noticed the curtains, billowing through the open back door and the harsh red blood staining the stark white carpet surrounded by toys and the remnants of his wife s favourite lamp, shattered into a million pieces.

His hands shook violently and he was barely able to press the buttons for the three digit number and raise it to his ear.

"_911. What is your emergency?"_

"Ah, my wife, my son. They are missing."

_"Sir, can you tell me your name?"_

"Amancio Sala, please, I need your help." His voice was shaking as he reached for the photo of his wife and son, resting on the side table. "Please, help me." He looked down at their smiling faces, his son pulling the length of his wife s long golden hair across his face as she laughed. Dropping to his knees, he pleaded into the phone and the operator insisted that he keep talking, insisted that he stay on the line until he could hear the sirens blaring out in the street. And he waited, babbling incoherently to the operator until the gentle, kind features of a red haired man crouched down in front of him and smiled a reassuring smile as he carefully took the phone from him and rested a comforting hand on his shoulder.

**

Climbing out of the Hummer, Eric hissed as the sun hit his eyes and the harsh light made him squint. He leaned back across the driver s seat and reached for his sunglasses, slipping the cool metal frames onto his face with an audible sigh of relief. It was hot. It was barely pushing eight o clock in the morning and it was sweltering and Eric almost felt he resented the fact that the first call-out for the day was his.

But then he rationalised that even if it were the middle of the day, the sun would only be beating down harder and the vicious Miami heatwave that had been pounding the city for over a week now, would be at its daily peak. So he gripped his kit tightly in his hand and made his way across the parking lot to where Horatio was questioning a witness, and he could see Tara a little way down the beach, examining the victims.

A mother and her young son.

Nothing made him feel more nauseous. They d been following the kidnapping if Elizabeth Sala and her son, Liam for the past three days. Her husband, Amancio Sala a respected Cuban business man based in Miami had been less than helpful, constantly insisting that if he were to pay the ransom, he d get his family back and Eric had gone through no small amount of anguish trying to convince him where the fault in his logic lay.

Of course, he hadn t foreseen that today he d be explaining to Mr Sala that his wife and son were dead.

He nodded his acknowledgement of Horatio and the man simply tipped his head in Tara s direction and Eric found his way under the bright yellow crime-scene tape, and down the sandy embankment towards her. "Mornin'." He greeted, deliberately omitting the 'Good' because with what he could see before him, the morning had become anything but.

"Hey," She looked up at him though it was hard for him to read her expression through her thick black sunglasses. It was an image that only nostalgically made him think of Alexx. But if knowing Tara was any indication, he knew she was just as disturbed by this as he was.

"What have we got?" He placed his kit down in the sand, at the foot of the mother's body where he knew it was normally Calleigh's place to sit on her knees, back straight and long blonde hair whipping in the wind as she waited for each minute detail Alexx or now Tara could find without so much as setting a single gloved finger on the body.

"Cause of death for little Liam was drowning. His lips are blue, indicating that he asphyxiated, other than that; there isn t a mark on him."

"The father, Amancio Sala, told me that he s three years old." Eric whispered, kneeling down beside the boy, studying his ash brown curls and the slightly tanned colour of his skin. His features reminded him of a very young, part Cuban, part American boy that he knew and he could feel the bile rise in his throat.

"Are you alright, Eric?" He heard Tara question and he realised that he must have looked as though he was a million miles away. Clearing his throat, he smiled faintly.

"Yeah, I m fine. This is just...it s a tough one."

"Yeah." She agreed. "The kids are always the worst."

"What about the mother, Elizabeth?" Eric wanted to swerve this conversation far away from kids and murder, but he would stick with murder, if it meant he could keep the kids aspect out of it for as long as possible.

"Gun-shot wound to the back of the skull." She gently tilted Elizabeth s head to the side, so that Eric could take a look at the bullet-hole beneath the mass of matted blonde locks, caked in blood.

"Excecution?"

She nodded, pursed her lips and sat back with her hands on her knees as she spoke. "Liam died first. With the brutality of this one, I wouldn t be surprised if Elizabeth was forced to watch while they drowned him. Here-" She pointed to a small piece of paper pressed to the mother s chest. "-what is that?" Eric photographed it, before lifting it carefully and turning it over in his hand. He read it carefully and Tara watched his expression change several times as he did.

"What is it?"

"It's a match book. It's from a nightclub, I think I know it. It s owned by one of Ivan Sarnoff s men."

Tara turned to look down at the mother s face again. "Poor thing, I m afraid to wonder what she was thrown into the middle of, but it looks like she managed to save something for us." She whispered, brushing the dead woman s hair out of her face. Eric watched her as she collected a few fingernail scrapings, popped them into an evidence bag and handed them over with a reassuring nod.

Eric swallowed and nodded. "Right, I'm..." Tara watched him intently as he fiddled with his kit. She smiled almost solemnly as he glanced her way and then finally stood up straight and took a deep breath. "I'm going to get these to the lab."

"Sure." She nodded and he cleared his throat before turning on his heel and heading back towards Horatio, waiting by the edge of the parking lot.

"Are you alright, Eric? You look pale." Horatio commented and Eric nodded, tucking his free hand into his pocket.

"This one kind of hits home, you know."

Horatio nodded and rested his hands on his hips. "Yes, I understand. If it s too much, just say the word."

Eric nodded and turned his eyes back down the beach. "Thanks, H, but I think I need to see this one through."

"That's fair enough."

"Tara collected some possible DNA evidence from under Elizabeth Sala's nails. As well as this." Eric held the match book that was now held secure in a clear evidence sleeve out to Horatio who scrutinized it intently.

"I wonder what this means."

"Well, let s hope we can get some prints off it. It might lead us to a meaning." Eric nodded, taking the sleeve back and slipping it securely into his kit. "I'll see you back at the lab, H."

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Calleigh let her eyes focus and unfocus on the numbers ticking over as she rode the elevator up to the lab. Yawning, she laughed silently as her hair was awkwardly pulled over her face, covering both her mouth and the face of the small boy, resting on her hip. Andrew, stop it. She smirked as she met his smiling green eyes with a wicked grin. She knew he liked the feel of her hair and late at night when he couldn't sleep, she'd often indulge in letting him play with it. But it was early and she was at work, so she tapped his little hand and brushed her hair behind her ear. When he looked saddened, she grasped the hand that had pulled at her hair and kissed it gently, safe in the knowledge that she was the only one in the elevator and that no one would belittle a small moment of motherly comfort. He seemed to brighten and she grinned, because he was a child that bounced back easily.

The elevator pinged, indicating that they'd reached their destination, so she readjusted the large Coach diaper bag on her shoulder and took a deep breath as she headed out towards the reception desk. "Good morning, Officer Duquesne," the bright-eyed receptionist greeted her, though her eyes were trained intently on the little boy, as was the norm.

"Good morning, Sally." She smirked as she signed in and took the offered day-care pass that Sally held up on the desk.

Sometimes Calleigh wished that she didn't have to trudge the entire length of the crime-lab with Andrew on her hip to get to the on-site day-care centre; because sometimes, that simple walk had the ability to make a bad morning, worse.

She knew that carrying the son of Eric Delko on her hip, through these halls, drew curious eyes. So she received no end of silent smiles and giggly faces as she passed the labs. Most often, it didn't bother her; sometimes she even silently revelled in the fact. But some days she wished she could simply pass without incident.

Today was not that day.

She almost audibly groaned when she heard Valera's screech from behind her and she had to school her features into a kind smile before she turned and suffered several moments of giggles and Andrew wriggling on her hip as Valera tickled him and greeted her good morning at the same time. She barely had it in her to fault the woman, because Andrew was an adorable kid. But sometimes she thought that it would be nice if she could arrive in a manner that didn't have all the women in the lab fawning over her and her son.

With a promise of returning before her shift was over, so that Andrew could say goodbye to Valera, Calleigh once again headed for the stairs but rolled her eyes when Natalia came running out of the lab.

"Calleigh. Hi." She greeted, grabbing Andrew's hand and squeezing it. Though to Calleigh's surprise, her friend s attention was trained on her.

"Hey, Natalia, what's up?"

"I just got the tox results back on Rosa Mendes; remember the Sala s house-keeper?"

Calleigh nodded. "You know I'm not working that case, Natalia?"

"Yeah, I know, but this is really hinky. She overdosed on a drug called, Desoxyephedrine." Natalia held up the file for Calleigh to read and Calleigh eyed her before she relented and looked down at the file. She had to readjust Andrew on her hip to be able to get a close enough look and only winced slightly when his little heel came in contact with her belly.

"Meth?" Calleigh questioned, glancing at Andrew's blank expression with a slight smile.

"In its legal form, Desoxyn. Ryan found a prescription for it in her medicine cabinet. Apparently she was narcoleptic."

"That drug can t be sold in these kinds of amounts; that's definitely not from a prescription," Calleigh commented, still looking over the report in Natalia's hand as Andrew and Natalia made faces at one another.

"Exactly. But why drug the housekeeper, if it's the family you want?"

"Well that is interesting. Crime of opportunity? She had the drugs and she was in the wrong place, at the wrong time?" Calleigh suggested.

Natalia nodded, considering it. "But that doesn't explain the quantity."

Calleigh shrugged. "I'm sure you'll figure it out. Ok, Andrew. Say goodbye to Natalia, we've got to go now."

"Bye N'talia," he said shyly, letting his head fall onto Calleigh's shoulder and both women grinned.

"You're going to get those results to Horatio?"

"Yeah, I was just on my way now, I'll see you later."

"Seeya." Calleigh gently urged Andrew to let go of Natalia's hand and smirked as they parted ways.

**

"Hey Delko, what'ya got?" Ryan wandered into the fingerprints lab, just as Eric was scanning the lone, partial print through AFIS.

"Tara found this match book on the vic. And I managed to lift a partial; we'll just have to see if it leads us anywhere."

Ryan nodded, resting his hands on his hips. "So I heard you were a little shaken up at the scene."

Eric snorted and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well if you'd seen what I saw..." He let the sentence fall as he noticed Ryan crossing his arms over his chest out of the corner of his eye.

"If this one s too close, Eric-"

Snapping his head up, Eric glared at him. "Look, I already told H. I'm fine, really."

"Yeah but Eric, it was a three year old kid. How old is Andrew?"

"Wolfe, let it go, alright."

"Fine, fine. You need any help?"

Eric shook his head and Ryan waited for a moment for some kind of verbal response, but when he got none he simply rolled his eyes and left the room. Eric felt a slight tinge of regret for snapping at Wolfe, but his friend had an uncanny ability for getting under his skin and right now, he just wanted to be left alone.

Before he dropped his eyes back down to the screen, he smiled slightly, because he noticed Calleigh walking past the lab. She glanced in and she winked her eye with a playful smile, completely unaware of what he d seen that morning as was a requirement of them working the same shift, they could no longer work the same case - and somehow, it managed to warm his heart just a little, knowing she was happy and he could go back to his work with his mood a little brighter.

**

"Good morning, Mrs Delko." Horatio smirked as Calleigh turned away from the fingerprinting lab and continued her walk towards him, by the elevator. She narrowed her eyes at him and she couldn't help but notice that there was a mischievous glint in his eyes, something that could rarely be found with Horatio Caine.

"It's Officer Duquesne, if I don't recall. It's been three years, Horatio. Is it never getting old?" She smirked, passing him and turning around to face him.

"I believe that depends on the situation, ma'am." He chuckled slightly. "And no, I don't believe so." He smiled and her expression softened, because she wasn't ever really mad at him; she still smiled goofily when a check-out girl referred to her by the name on her credit card, or when she rifled through the mail and came across something addressed to 'Mr and Mrs Delko'. She loved it and all that it implied; though, even if she agreed. "Perhaps" was the response that he received.

"How is your son?" He twirled his sunglasses between his fingers and adjusted his footing, the way that he does.

Calleigh took a deep breath and tugged on the hem of her shirt. "He's good. He s just the happy, smiling little boy that he always is. He gets that from Eric." She laughed gently and Horatio nodded, knowing that wasn t entirely true. "Oh and Mareike is doing very well." She patted her stomach and Horatio turned his eyes down to her hand with a fond smile.

"She has a name?" Some people would think it strange, that their daughter had her name complete and she was barely a bump of four months old. But Calleigh and Eric were both set in their decisions and the moment they knew that they were to have a daughter; they decided that her name would be Mareike.

Calleigh grinned. "Yes, she does."

"Listen, Calleigh," She took a step closer to him, knowing by the look in his eyes that what he was about to say, was for their ears only. "The Sala case has hit Eric fairly hard. The bodies of Elizabeth Sala and her young son were discovered on the beach this morning."

Her eyes widened. "That was the call-out that Eric got?" Horatio nodded.

"Yes. Now, here's what I'd like you to do; Eric insists that he's fine, but I'd like you to watch him; the boy was about Andrew's age and there is something about this case that isn't sitting quite right with me."

Slowly, Calleigh glanced towards the fingerprinting lab, seeing Eric hunched over the laptop deep in thought and she found herself nodding. "Yeah, of course. I'll talk to him."

"Thank you, Ma'am." He smiled and she patted his forearm.

"Now, if you ll excuse me Lieutenant, I've got fifty-four shell casings to process before I can have lunch with my son, so I d better get to it."

Horatio nodded and with one last look over at Eric, Calleigh turned on her heel and headed for her Ballistics lab.

**

"Eric," Horatio walked into the fingerprinting lab and set his sunglasses on the bench, just as Eric's computer beeped. "-what have you got?"

Eric's eyes were wide and staring at the screen. Horatio became tense and studied his friend intently before the younger man grasped the top of the monitor tightly and turned it so that he could see. The partial print on the match book belonged to a Dimitri Brize, Russian Mob. "H, you know what that means."

Horatio met his eyes with the same degree of worry and Eric took that as an affirmative, letting his brain spiral into overdrive. "This could mean Sarnoff." He stated, fearfully.

Horatio cut him off before he could voice what the both suddenly feared. "Eric, calm down. As far as we know, Sarnoff is dead. I shot him myself. We don't jump to conclusions, remember?"

"Well, what could it have meant?" For once, Horatio didn t have an answer that could possibly reassure his friend entirely. So he opted for honesty, the best policy.

"I don't know, Eric. But I m going to find out." He grabbed his sunglasses and fled the room, leaving Eric breathing heavily and unsure of what to do with himself. He looked out to the hallway and all the bustling people. He saw that Ryan and Natalia were talking across the hall, but he couldn t bring himself to face them. Calleigh was likely busy with a case; she'd been backlogged with bullets, bombs and harpoons since she'd been confined to the lab and he didn t want to worry her with his insecurities, so tossing his lab coat over his chair, he dashed out of the room toward the only person that he knew, could ease his worry.

**

"Nat, is Eric out in the field?" Calleigh asked, walking into DNA with a very confused look on her face.

Natalia didn't look up from what she was doing, though she smiled gently at the worry in her friend's voice. "Not that I know of, why?"

"I can't find him. He was supposed to have lunch with Andrew and me, but I can't find him anywhere. I was thinking that perhaps Horatio sent him out on a lead?"

Stopping what she was doing, Natalia looked her in the eye. "As far as I know, the case hasn t got any yet; the drugged housekeeper turned up nothing and apart from a single match book Eric found on the victim, there's been nothing else. He should be here...somewhere."

Calleigh pressed her lips together and the worry was evident enough on her face, that Natalia noticed it and her smile fell away. "Calleigh, is everything alright?"

"Oh, yeah. It's fine. I m sure he's just preoccupied with something, I'll find him. Thanks Nat."

Flustered a little by Calleigh's sudden dismissal, Natalia nodded and barely managed to mutter her response before Calleigh was out of the lab. "Sure, anytime."

**

Almost certain that she d have to give up the search, Calleigh headed towards the day-care centre to find Andrew because that was a far easier task than searching for Eric when he didn't want to be found. It was the highlight of their son s day, when Eric and Calleigh would drag him away from his little friends and make lunch for him in the break room. The three of them would sit around the couch and he d tell them all about the fun things he was learning at school . Some days only she was free to spend time with him and some days only Eric was, so it was extra special, the days when they could both be there to hear his little stories. Sometimes he'd fall asleep and Calleigh barely had the heart to unwrap his little arms from her waist and take him back upstairs.

Walking up to the door, Calleigh took a moment to peer through the small window and when she set her eyes on her son, she smiled. And she wondered how it hadn't crossed her mind, that where she found Andrew, she would find Eric.

She watched them for a moment, as Eric eased himself down into the small couch. It was small enough to fit a child, not a six-foot Cuban. She covered her smile with her hand but as he pulled Andrew towards him, wrapping the small boy - that had her eyes and his everything else - in his arms; she found that her heart started to beat a little faster. Eric pulled him close and wrapped his arms around him. She watched as he buried his face in the little boy s neck and a tear came to her eye when she saw that Andrew was hugging him back, comforting his father.

She watched them talk and by the way they moved their mouths, she knew they were speaking Spanish. She wanted to walk in there, but she knew that Eric needed this. Turning around, she headed back to her lab and let Eric have Andrew all to himself, because he needed something to ground him in that moment and for a small change, it wasn t her.

Taking the stairs slowly, she made her way back down and headed towards her lab. She hadn t finished cataloguing all of her casings, so skipping her break would ensure that she'd get through it and have time to see Andrew that afternoon.


	3. Chapter 3

Stepping out of the elevator, he felt a strange gush of nostalgia wash over him. He'd taken the assigment for many reasons, but none of them had hit him as strongly as the feeling of having returned that washed over him. The sunlight shining through the glass panels cast the same light on the space. The few lab-rats he could see were ones that he'd expected to see, so much so that it almost felt like he d never left at all until he stepped up to the reception desk and set eyes on the pretty young officer and noted that she was a new addition. It was then that he noticed the lab-rats that he d never seen before, the new addition to the DNA lab down the hall and the fact that no one in the vicinity had recognised him.

She looked up at him expectantly and he cleared his throat, leaning against the bench with a smirk.

"I'm looking for CSI Duquesne," he stated, glancing around him and she nodded.

"She's due to collect her messages any minute now, you can wait if you like." Drumming his fingers on the countertop, he nodded and began to pace the foyer anxiously. He wondered what she'd look like. It'd been over three years since he'd seen her last. He hoped that she hadn't dyed her hair like she'd joked in the past, hoped she still hugged her gun like it was her best friend and hoped that those tight pants hadn't found their way to the back of her closet.

"Sally, do you have any messages for me?" He heard her voice and the clickity-clack of her heels as she walked up to the bench. A lot of women's shoes made that sound, but hers had a specific clickity-clack that seemed to be different. Perhaps it was the pace of her walk or the way that she moved her hips, he didn't know, but it was distinctive to say the least. Spinning around, he caught sight of her and the first thing he was thankful for was the long blonde stream of hair down her back. She d kept it and grown it and he was glad. He sized her up in an instant, assessing her from her four inch heels black, with a blood red instep - to her black tailored pants, to the small piece of champagne coloured silk peeking out beside her holster and the fitted, yet feminine suit jacket that covered the rest from his view. Even from behind, she was still gorgeous.

"I do," he said, before the receptionist had a chance to answer and he realised that he'd assessed her in a record-breaking space of time. Spinning around, her hair flew out as quickly as it fell back into place as she came face to face with him and her lips spread into a bright smile.

"Jake," she breathed through her smile and he released a breath in relief.

"Well that certainly wasn't the welcome I was expecting. I was assuming you d throw things, but I'll take that smile any day of the week." He grinned, shoving his hands in his pockets as he moved closer to her.

"Oh, just give me a moment." She joked and he laughed openly. "So," She glanced behind her and he saw in her expression that she d suddenly grown anxious, why? "-you re back."

"Yeah. And I ve gotta say, Calleigh, you're-" He appraised her with his eyes once again. Standing closer now he realised that her hair was shinier, her eyes were brighter and her skin almost looked like it was shimmering. Apart from her sudden discomfort, she looked so undoubtedly happy. "You're glowing."

Calleigh blushed and considering that she'd worn a blouse today that subtly obstructed the reason why, her lips didn t dare take the initiative to tell him what her brain couldn't spit out. So she just nodded.

"What are you doing here?" She asked the question he knew she'd ask and thankfully, he was prepared for it.

"Amancio Sala," He answered and she nodded in realisation.

"The husband in Horatio's current case?"

"Yeah, we've been keeping tabs on his business transactions between Miami and Cuba for the past five months, we think he may have had some dealings with some of Sarnoff's people in Cuba," He paused and furrowed his brow. "wait, isn't it your case too?"

Calleigh shuffled on her spot, twisting her fingers around her wrist as she sucked in her bottom lip. "I-I ve got a bit of a back-log at the moment. Can we talk later?" she asked quickly, seeing in his eyes that he wanted to do far more than talk. He had questions. And far separated from the case at hand, he wanted to resolve. He wanted to find out if she'd waited. And she felt a small pang of guilt in her heart, seeing that for all appearances, he had done what she couldn't.

"Sure," he answered with a nod, reaching out to grasp her hand, but she recoiled before he could touch her. He frowned, but he didn't say anything because it had been over three years; she had a right to be distant. So he accepted it as something to work on and smiled as she nodded nervously before turning to leave.

**

"Hey, Andrew was asking for you at lunch." Calleigh looked up from the Smith & Wesson she was cleaning and smiled gently. With a shrug, she looked back down at the gun and listened to his footsteps make their way across the lab.

"I saw the two of you and I thought you might need some time alone." Reaching out, he touched his fingers beneath her chin and raised her face to look at him.

"Thanks, Cal." He looked a little more relaxed and a lot thankful so she grasped the hand that was still holding her chin, and kissed his palm.

"Anytime."

"So what have you got here?" He looked down at the array of guns on her work bench and the horrendous amount of spent casings, each lying on their own evidence bag.

"A lot of tedious work." She laughed and he nodded.

"You want take-out tonight?"

Letting herself drop onto her stool, she grinned tiredly and rested her hand on his forearm as he braced himself against the bench. "That would be wonderful. Chinese, please. I've got a craving for spring rolls."

He laughed and reached over to pat her stomach. "Little Mareike's putting her order in?"

"This girl runs my life." She grinned and rested her hand over his. She studied him for a moment, as he brushed his thumb in small circles over the fabric of her shirt and she lowered her voice to almost a whisper. "I wouldn t have it any other way." Emphasising the point as if she feared he thought that she would come to regret it all in some way.

Eric grinned; turning his hand over, he entwined his fingers with hers. She played with his fingers for a moment as they shared a silence and he leant across the table to kiss her forehead. With his lips still pressed against her brow, she closed her eyes and squeezed his hand, before he stepped away silently and left the lab. She'd wanted to tell him about Jake, that he was back, that she'd seen him, that he wanted to talk. But somehow, she couldn t bring herself say it.

All she wanted to do was go home and somehow avoid Jake and the inevitable for a little while. Hiding herself in bedtime stories and bathtime, laughter and cartoons. All things that would take her mind as far away from Jake as possible. And hopefully, she d find a way to take Eric's mind away from his case, if she could.

**

Jake sat staring at the house for several minutes. He didn't know why he was so hesitant; normally he was so confident, normally he was the kind of guy that ran in guns blazing before he even thought to ask questions, but here he was, biting his lip and pondering how undefinably different she seemed to be when he saw her at the lab.

Studying the house, he took note of her Hummer in the driveway, but her Crossfire was nowhere to be seen. That could easily be explained away by the double garage, so he felt no discomfort in assuming that she was home alone. He didn't even want to consider how he'd have felt if he'd seen some unfamiliar car parked right there, over the oil-stain on the pavement beside the Hummer.

Taking a deep breath, he climbed out of his car and kicked the door shut, not even bothering to lock it as he walked across the street, towards the house.

He made his way up to her door, noticing the neatly aligned greenery bordering the path and he smirked, because it only emphasised the fact that, apart from tulips, Calleigh had never really been a flowers girl. Stepping over a newspaper that he guessed had been there since morning, he took a deep breath and raised his hand to the door and knocked.

He heard shuffling through the door and the sound of the TV being turned down. There was a slight thud and another shuffle before he heard footsteps heading towards the door for a few seconds. And then the door suddenly flew open, sending Calleigh's hair fluttering in a gush of air.

"Jake," She breathed, surprised.

"Hey," He smiled and took note that she'd lost the tailored suit jacket that she'd had on earlier in the day and replaced it with a soft, knitted sweater that was at least a size too big. She still wore the silky, flowing, champagne coloured shirt she'd had on and she'd removed her killer heels. To Jake, she still looked stunning. "You look good," he continued, noting that she grasped the sleeve of her right hand, with her left, and tugged on it nervously.

"What are you doing here?" she questioned, glancing sideways for a moment before meeting his eye.

"I just wanted to talk to you, Calleigh." His voice sounded almost hopeful and she bit her lip.

"Jake, I'm not on the case." She stated, knowing almost certainly, that that's not what he'd meant.

His voice lowered and he took a step towards her, just shy of the threshold. "This isn't about the case."

How did you- She swallowed. How did you get my new address?

Jake opened his mouth to answer, knowing that she d probably have something to say about him interrogating it out of Valera. But before he had a chance, a voice caught him by surprise.

"_Mommy!_" Calleigh's eyes widened when she heard the tiny voice coming from her living-room. She smiled almost apologetically at Jake when she noticed his expression and quickly she reached out to grasp his forearm. "Please," she spoke softly, gently. "Come on, we can talk inside."

He didn't know why, but he followed her and he let her lead him through her house, toward the kitchen. It was a form of self-torture, he figured. Because he'd been the one that left for over three years and as he looked around her house, seeing the things that made it a home and the child that looked a little _too_ familiar, he smirked bitterly at his own stupidity.

It had always been there, at the back of his mind, that eventually this day - or one very like it - would come.

"Mommy, I hungry." A small boy of nearly two and a half years, with ash brown curls, caramel coloured skin and bright green eyes came bounding towards her down the hall.

All Jake could do was stare at them. Deep down, he knew what was happening and he knew what she was going to tell him but somewhere in his heart he hoped that if he blinked, the child would be gone, the men's shoes by the door would disappear and he'd see dinner set for one at her dining room table.

Idiotically, he closed his eyes, but the sound of her voice drew him out of his reverie.

"Mijo, be patient, your dinner is coming," she scolded, grasping the boy's shoulders and spinning him on his heel. "Now go and watch your movie, Mommy's going to be on the back porch, okay?"

"Kay," he answered, throwing a curious glance at Jake before crawling his way back onto the couch and settling back with a Tippee cup of juice and a blanket.

Calleigh met Jake's eye again; he was still a little speechless and she urged him out through the sliding glass door, onto the back patio. She gestured for him to sit down and he did, still staring at her as she took a seat across from him.

"Look, Jake, I know how this looks and I-" He held his hand up slightly, to silence her.

"It's certainly something I never thought I'd see." Calleigh's eyes narrowed and he sat up straighter, suddenly realising how that sounded. "No, Calleigh, that's not what I-" He rested his elbows on his knees and set his eyes on the play set in the middle of the backyard. And it didn't quite sit right with him that he was sitting in the midst of a world that the Calleigh Duquesne he remembered didn't fit in. And yet, here she was, beautiful and glowing and _motherly_ and he had to swallow in order to buy time to clear his head. "I just didn't expect..." She nodded, she knew.

"I didn't have a chance to tell you and I'm sorry."

He shook his head, still not looking at her, but the tension in his shoulders had eased a little. "You don't have to be sorry, Calleigh, you said you wouldn't wait."

"Jake, don't say it like that..." she whispered, wrapping her arms around her stomach which caused her loose shirt to flatten over a rather pronounced bump and when he glanced at her, he only just realised what he hadn't seen that morning. She was pregnant, at least three or four months. He had to look away.

"It's true, Calleigh." He finally met her, eye to eye, though he still avoided looking at her stomach.

"Jake, you've been gone for over three years. I know that it hurts and I'm sorry, but if I'd waited I wouldn't have Andrew," He watched her out of the corner of his eye, as she rested a hand on her stomach. "I wouldn't have Mareike and I wouldn't have..." Her eyes drifted back inside the house as she noticed the front door open and Andrew running down the hall. "I wouldn't have Eric." She breathed his name softly and Jake turned to see Eric walking into the living room, swinging the small boy up into the air with one hand and plopping him on his hip as the pair walked into the kitchen and Eric dropped a bag of take-out Chinese on the bench.

Nodding in realisation, Jake's head bobbed and Calleigh felt a twinge of regret. Tilting his head, he saw Calleigh and Eric share a glance, but the man didn't come outside. It was a testament, really, to how well they could read each other and how much he trusted her. But unlike in the past, right then it was something Jake was very grateful for.

"Look, Calleigh, I didn't come here to-" He took a breath. "Well, I did, but-" He dropped his head into his hands and Calleigh reached out her hand to rest it comfortingly against his shoulder. But when she caught sight of the three bands on her finger, she pulled it back before she touched him. You have an effect on people, Calleigh." He startled her, because she hadn't expected him to say another word. "I'm not saying that it's your fault, but you give a piece of yourself and here I was thinking that what I got was all there was to you, but, boy was I wrong."

Calleigh fidgeted, but she got the feeling that interrupting him wasn't what he needed right now. He needed to say it, whatever _it_ was becoming.

"See, you give a piece and guys, they fall in love with you and when you're gone there's not a whole lot left and then..." He fiddled with his car keys and a small sheen appeared in her eyes. "Then you go and you give _everything_ to Delko, of all people. And the worst part is, He turned to meet her eyes. I actually think he deserves it more than I ever did."

"Jake-" He cut her off as he stood, looking down at her and the tears she shed for him.

"The winner takes it all, Calleigh."

"Jake!" She called after him, as he stepped back through the glass door that she'd left open and walked across the living room. She froze, as he stepped up to Eric and she watched as Eric slowly let Andrew slide to the ground, never letting his eyes fall from Jake's because he was unsure of what was coming.

"Congratulations, man." Jake held out his hand and Eric found himself dumbfounded and glancing at Calleigh for some sort of reassurance that this offer of peace was for real. Her mouth twitched, almost a smile but not quite and he turned back to Jake.

"Thanks" was all he could verbalize as he took the offered hand and shook it.

"Bye, Calleigh." She watched from her place as he walked down the hallway, glancing back at her only once, before he saw himself out. She knew that Eric was looking at her, trying to read her expression, but she couldn't drag her eyes away from the closed front door.

"That wasn't what I expected," she breathed, still staring and he realised that she was more stunned than lost.

"Me either," he agreed, and the sound of his voice seemed to snap her out of her trance.

"I'm sorry you had to come home to that."

"Why?" He stepped around the bench, slipping in between her and the stool she was resting against and sliding his hands around her waist between her sweater and her shirt.

"I don't know." He kissed her forehead and she closed her eyes because she never got over the smell of him and how it brought her peace. "I'm hungry, let s eat dinner." She was veering away from the subject, but he let her because the moment had a sense of finality to it that was four years coming. Jake was a memory. And their son was bouncing up and down beside them and tugging on the hem of Eric's shirt.

**

Jake walked towards his car, as if in a trance and when he set his hands on the cold metal of the door, he stopped himself and pressed his palms into the rim of the door, letting the car hold his weight as his forehead slowly descended to rest on the window. His heart churned as he suddenly kicked out at the wheel. Spinning around, he rested his back against the car and looked up at the house.

He should have seen it coming. She d always had different reasons for pulling away from him. She'd always cared for him, but looking back now, he realised that she'd always been standing behind a thin panel of plated glass, just out of his reach.

He ran his eyes across the average sized home. The garden was nicely trimmed and the edges of the roof and window frames reminded him of the brief month he'd spent in Havana. The Hummer was now sharing pride of place with a silver Dodge Mini-van and he had to chuckle, imagining Calleigh driving it. He looked over to the light shining through the front window and he wondered if the shadows he could see were actually silhouettes.

He pictured her face, her smile and the way the air in the room had always changed whenever Eric had entered it. Almost like there was a secret hanging over them. A secret not one of them had been deft enough to identify at the time. Smiling nostalgically, Jake studied the house for another moment before he nodded his head. "Enough." He turned around, opened the car and climbed in. As he started it up, he felt a wave of release wash over him and he leaned back, listening to the old Impala rumble. "Enough now," he promised himself, as he pulled out of the street and away from Calleigh s home for the last time.


	4. Chapter 4

"I had to tell a man today that his wife and son were murdered." Eric whispered and he felt Calleigh's whole body stiffen in his arms. She was spooned up against him with her back cushioned against his chest. His hands were splayed across her stomach and even though she was awake, she had the majority of her face buried in her pillow.

"Eric, I-" She didn t know what she could possibly say, that could comfort him. She knew that Horatio had come to her, worried for Eric's well-being, earlier in the day. And Eric himself had told her of how Ryan had come to him in the lab with nothing but brotherly concern and he'd shot him down. Though when she thought about it, the fact that he'd opened up to her had given her a unique opportunity to drag it out of him. "It's different now, isn't it?"

"I didn't think it would be. I hadn't thought of it, until now." He pressed his lips against the back of her neck, brushing her hair aside as he did and she pulled the duvet higher over the pair of them.

"Eric, we knew when we had Andrew that things would change."

"I know that. I knew that. I just, I never realised how much it would sting." He ran his fingers along her bicep. "The whole time I was speaking to him, I was seeing myself across the table. I saw you and Andrew in those photos. I just-" He breathed shakily and she felt it flutter her hair.

"I know." She brushed her fingers over his hand. "I get it."

He hugged her tighter and buried his face in her hair. "It'll never get easier, will it?"

Calleigh sighed. "If it could, would you really want it to?"

"When I think about it, maybe not," Eric rolled onto his back, dragging Calleigh with him until she rolled over and rested her cheek against his chest. "I just wish it didn't hurt so much."

"It means you're a good father." She pressed her lips to his chest, smiling against his skin. "And a good husband. It hurts because you love us. I for one am glad to know that, because if anything happened to you, I know I'd feel the same way."

"Yeah," Eric breathed and licked his lips.

Because she was unwilling to sleep while she had Eric so open, like this, Calleigh pressed for more reasons to keep talking. "Do you have any leads to follow?"

"Not really," he huffed. "I found a partial print near the victim that matched a Russian connected to Ivan, but other than that, nothing. Horatio s bringing him in for questioning tomorrow morning but I don t see Dimitri admitting to anything. How about you?"

"No real cases, just back-log of evidence that needs to be documented. Every time I close my eyes, I see striations and shell-casings." She laughed and Eric ran his fingers through her hair soothingly.

"Do you want me to have my Mom make you guys dinner tomorrow night?" Calleigh looked up at him with her eyebrows furrowed in confusion because he knew that she hated to ask his mother to cook for her when the pair of them could handle the job themselves. "I'm working a double, remember?"

Calleigh breathed out and stared across the room at the door that was sitting ajar. She could see the glow from Andrew's night-light beaming through the crack and she closed her eyes. "If you want, you can tell her she's more than welcome to come over. But do not _dare_ ask her to cook for me, Eric, I can cook for myself."

He laughed. "Cal, you know she'll insist."

"Well, then let her. But don't you bring it up."

Eric kissed her forehead. "Alright, I won't. But I'll call her in the morning, alright?"

"Fine." Eric laughed as he noticed her pout and hugged her closer.

"Come on, let s get some sleep." She nodded, yawning.

"G'night," she whispered over the end of her yawn as her eyes drifted closed and her body relaxed into his side.

"Night, Cal." Eric felt a flutter against his hip, where her stomach was pressed against him and he grinned stupidly. When he knew Calleigh had completely drifted off, he took a breath and spoke in a voice that was barely audible over her breathing. "Goodnight, Mareike."

**

"Mmm, Bacon." Calleigh grinned as she walked into the kitchen with a freshly dressed Andrew on her hip. She was still wearing her black robe with the white silk edging and Eric smirked, because her camisole covered belly was poking out where the tie was sitting looser.

"Only the best for Delkos." He grinned, kissing her lips as she placed Andrew on the counter and reached over to steal a piece of bacon from the pan. He slapped her hand playfully and she played mock-hurt. "But Duquesne's eat _after_ they shower.

Calleigh stepped back with one hand on her hip. "_Duquesne's_?" That tone of voice normally terrified him. Swallowing deeply, he nodded slowly. "So, when you want discounts on family tickets at the Fair, I'm a Delko. But when you re making bacon for yourself and your _first born son_, I'm a Duquesne?"

"Baby-"

"Don't baby me, _Sweet Pea_. You know I've never liked that ridiculous little pet-name." Both hands were on her hips now. Eric bit his lip and lifted Andrew from the bench, resting him on his hip. The boy had been sitting between his parents, watching them as if they were playing tennis and now Eric decided that the best shield from the wrath of Calleigh Delko was her son. "You think that's gonna fly?" She pointed toward Andrew, squirming in Eric's hold.

Eric shrugged and studied her eyes, there was a certain sparkle. She was still playing. To the untrained eye, it'd appear she was actually mad. He glanced at the bacon, still sizzling away in the pan.

"Andrew, do you want to come to Mommy?" Calleigh beckoned in her sweetest Mommy voice. Eric was fairly certain that she'd practised it on his neighbour's cat before they were married, because she was far too good at it and that cat had a rather peculiar affection for her. Immediately, Andrew started squirming and thrashing about, stretching his arms out as far as he could to try and reach for Calleigh.

"Ha ha." Calleigh grinned when she finally had hold of Andrew again and had his arms wrapped around her neck. Eric gulped and reached over to the pan with his tongs.

"Bacon, Mrs Delko?" He held out a piece for her and Calleigh's eyes sparkled in victory.

**

"Now, Mr Greer, today you're going to be shadowing my firearms expert. She hasn't arrived yet so Mr Delko here is going to give you a tour of the lab. If you have any questions, Eric will be happy to help you. Isn't that right, Eric?" Horatio turned to him and Eric nodded with a smile, patting the young rookie on the shoulder reassuringly.

"Not a problem, H. I'll give him the grand tour."

"Now, if you'll excuse me gentlemen." Horatio nodded to them both, before heading down the hall, towards Tara holding out a file for him.

"So, you're a transfer from patrol?" Eric questioned and the young man flicked his blue eyes over a few people passing by before he turned to the older officer with a nod.

"Yeah."

"You might know Wolfe then?"

"Ryan Wolfe? No, I've only been on patrol for three years. CSI Wolfe was before my time, but I have heard of him and the rest of your team. As far as CSI goes, I'm a bit of a fan." The young man chuckled and Eric smiled.

"Ok, He gestured down the hall. We'll start in DNA. In here you ll either see Maxine Valera or this lovely lady, He smirked as he caught her attention and she grinned. Miss Natalia Boa Vista."

Natalia held her hand out to shake and Greer took it almost hesitantly. "Robert Greer."

"Nice to meet you." She smiled and shared a glance with Eric when the younger man blushed.

"If you need a rush on any DNA results, Natalia is the last person you go to," Eric joked and Natalia playfully slapped his arm.

"Excuse me, the only reason I've ever turned down rushing your results was when Calleigh's triple took precedence, will you let it go!"

Eric only laughed and patted Robert on the back, ushering him out of the room. "Alright, Greer, here you've got Tox, next door is Fingerprinting and then QD. Down the butt end of the hall is firearms, where you'll be stashed away for the rest of the day. Any questions?"

**

Calleigh grinned as she stepped into the elevator, meeting a pair of smiling eyes, so like her own. "Hey Dad."

"Hey, lambchop."

"What are you doing here?" Duke shrugged, reaching over to take Andrew from her hip and she smiled thankfully to be relieved of the weight.

"I just popped in to say hello to my grandson." He grinned, bouncing the boy on his hip and making him laugh as Calleigh hit the button and the elevator doors closed. "And to ask my beautiful and only daughter for a favour."

"You're buttering me up," she narrowed her eyes. "Why?"

Duke laughed. "I was just wondering if I could take Andrew for the day. I thought we could go get some ice cream, down at the marina and catch a movie or something."

Calleigh sighed and smiled at her Dad apologetically as she reached for Andrew's little back and straightened his shirt. "Dad, you know I love you but you know I can t let you take Andrew. You promised in AA that you'd be sober six months before you even asked."

"I know. I just...I love having the little guy around, that's all. I haven't had a drop for almost three months."

Calleigh smiled sadly. "I know, Daddy, I'm proud of you. And you can, just, not by yourself. Not yet." He nodded and she reached up to kiss his cheek as the elevator doors opened.

"Can I at least take him down to the center?" Calleigh grinned and slipped the diaper bag off her shoulder and hooked it over his arm.

"Sure, Sophie's waiting. I'll see you this afternoon, Sweet-pea." Calleigh kissed Andrew's cheek before leaning over to kiss her dad again. "And I'll see you later, Dad." He nodded and she watched him collect the pass from Sally, who'd become accustomed to Duke's impromptu visits, and make his way down the hall.

**

"So you're the bullet girl?"

Calleigh looked up from her scope with a smirk as she met the eyes of the young man, standing just inside her lab with a nervous look on his face.

"That nickname's still floatin' around?" Calleigh rolled her eyes heavenward. "Man, I thought I'd quashed that years ago." Stepping around from her work-bench, she held her hand out to shake his. "I'm Calleigh Duquesne."

He took the offered hand. "Robert Greer."

"Well, it's a pleasure. I'm sure someone's given you the grand tour already?" She questioned, dropping her hands into the pockets of her lab-coat as she smiled sweetly.

"Yes, actually. Officer Delko showed me around."

"Oh," Calleigh smirked.

"Oh...what?"

"Oh, nothing." She grinned, dismissing it with a shake of her head. "So, how about a crash course in processing ballistics evidence?"

"Sure."

**

Signing off on some evidence he d just filed away in the locker, Ryan locked up the gate and after passing the key back to the guard on duty made his way down towards the garage. He was set to re-process Elizabeth Sala s car during his lunch break, hoping that if he went over it again, he may turn up something that they missed. Horatio had already spoken to Dimitri Brize, who refused to give up a sample of his DNA to compare to the tissue scrapings from under Mrs Sala s fingernails.

Without probable cause, they couldn't force him to.

Passing by firearms, Ryan peered in to see Calleigh hard at work, focused on her scope, so he turned to see Officer Greer, making notes at the end of the workbench. He was about to step inside, when he stopped himself and curiously watched Greer. The boy was watching Calleigh not the work and with narrowed eyes, Ryan noticed him slip his hand into his pocket and drag out a cell-phone. Intrigue piqued, he watched as he sent a text and quickly stuffed the phone back into his pocket when Calleigh looked up from the scope and smiled.

Forgetting about the garage for a moment, Ryan checked his watch and quickly dashed down the hall to the break-room for lunch instead.

**

"Hey Delko," Ryan called as he entered the room, seeing Eric sitting on the small sofa with Andrew in his lap and Calleigh's dad by his side.

"Hey Wolfe," Eric eyed him worriedly. "What's up?"

"Can I speak with you?"

"Is it life-threateningly important?"

Ryan scratched the back of his head. "Well..." He winced. "I suppose that's rather objective, really."

"Wolfe." Eric growled and Ryan dropped down to sit in the sofa across from them.

"Fine, you met the new guy right? Officer Greer?"

Eric nodded. "Yeah, he seems like an alright kid, why?"

"You didn't get any vibes from him?"

Eric shared a confused glance with Duke before turning back to Ryan. "Vibes?"

"No bad feelings?"

"You're not back on that Santeria curse thing again, are you?"

"No," Ryan rolled his eyes. "I've just got a weird feeling, that's all. I just walked passed Firearms and I was going to say hi to Calleigh because I haven t seen her all day but I stopped and watched Greer. He was sending a text but hid the phone when Calleigh looked at him."

"Maybe he was just nervous about using his phone at work. Maybe he thought he'd get in trouble; Calleigh is Horatio's second," Eric justified, but Ryan shook his head, watching Duke passing grapes one by one to Andrew who was throwing them across the room until Eric absently grabbed the boy s wrist and held his hand down.

"I don't know," Ryan shrugged. "Maybe, but it's still not sitting right with me."

"Wolfe, you re just being a little paranoid." Eric laughed as he passed Andrew to Duke and stood up. "Regardless, Wolfe, my break time's up and I've got work to do. So I'll see you later."

"Yeah, see ya later." Ryan muttered, watching Eric kiss Andrew's forehead and ruffle the boy's dirty-blonde curls before heading out of the room.

"Don't worry," Duke smirked, bouncing his grandson on his knee. "If anything's not right with that young man, my Lambchop'll weed it out." Ryan gave the man a strange look, having never heard her father's pet name for her, but smiled his goodbye's as Duke walked out of the room, hand in hand with Andrew.


	5. Chapter 5

Calleigh walked along the water s edge, pushing her sunglasses up the bridge of her nose as she manoeuvred Andrew s stroller through the swarms of joggers, dog-walkers and cyclists making their way in the opposite direction. Catching sight of Andrew s feet sticking up in the air ahead of her, Calleigh laughed lightly for a moment before reaching over and encouraging him to stop, regardless of how humorous she found him to be at times. It was a little past eleven in the morning and Calleigh was glad to be out of the house. She didn't get many days where she could put her hair in a pony-tail instead of worrying about blow-drying it to look perfect and professional, and she didn't get many days where she didn't have the weight of her gun on her hip, which had grown progressively more uncomfortable as the months dragged on. Because nearly five months of baby-weight and a 9mm seriously dragged her petite frame down, though it was only Eric that knew it was stashed in the under-carriage of the stroller.

Catching sight of their destination, Calleigh's face broke into a wide smile when she caught the eye of the slender, regal woman standing just outside the restaurant, waving her over.

"Alexx!" Calleigh grinned, leaning across the stroller to kiss her friend s cheek. "It's been so long, Alexx, we've missed you."

"And I've missed you," Alexx patted her younger friend's stomach with motherly affection. "Quite a bit of you, it seems." She smirked. "How are you doing, baby?"

"Oh Alexx, I m fine." Calleigh blushed, never quite used to all the attention that came with pregnancy and motherhood. But from Alexx, she quite enjoyed it when every time they'd meet she had a new glory story of motherhood to share with her each time she saw that her belly was growing rapidly.

"And how is my little man?" Alexx bent down to the stroller, grasping Andrew s little hand and giving it a kiss. He giggled and she smiled back up at Calleigh. "Lunch?"

"That sounds fabulous, I'm starving." Both women laughed and Alexx walked ahead, clearing a path for Calleigh to get the stroller into the small cafe where the pair would meet up once a month, or whenever Calleigh had a day off.

Sitting down at the small table by the window, they could see out onto the marina. Calleigh smiled and thanked the waiter for helping her fold up Andrew's stroller and Alexx helped the little boy to climb into the seat between the two women where he immediately began to munch down on his chicken nuggets with French fries.

"So how is everyone at the lab?" Alexx questioned, sipping her water and picking up the French fries that had fallen off Andrew's plate.

"They're good," Calleigh nodded, poking at her salad. "Ryan's doing well and Natalia's really proved she can hold her own as a CSI. Horatio is Horatio, of course." They both laughed and Calleigh cleared her throat. "And we've had a new transfer from Patrol, Officer Greer."

"Promising new CSI?"

"Well, it remains to be seen. But I'm hopeful. Horatio's checked over his file thoroughly. I think he's still afraid of Speedle's mistake happening again."

"We all relive it, baby, Horatio most of all." Alexx patted Calleigh's shoulder, knowing that any mention of Speedle was always something Calleigh had trouble stomaching even after all this time.

"Yeah."

"And how's my boy?" Alexx smirked and marvelled at how, after ten years of friendship, three years of marriage and nearly two children, mention of Eric still made her younger friend blush.

"He's good, great actually." Looking up to meet Alexx eyes, Alexx could tell that she was smiling with her whole heart. "He's a really great father."

"You're going on three years of being stunned, aren t you?" Alexx laughed and Calleigh pressed herself closer to her, palms down on the table almost conspiratorially.

"Is it that obvious?" The older woman nodded. "You know, sometimes I really wonder if I'm going to wake in that hospital bed after that fire and realise this has all been a dream. Is that weird?"

"No," She chuckled. "No, honey, it's not weird." Reaching over the table, she took her hand and pressed her thumb to her palm. "It's human and it's definitely you."

Calleigh threw her a menacing glare and Alexx just smirked. "Sometimes I really consider pinching myself to see if I'm still dreaming. I've got everything I've ever wanted, and then some." Looking out towards the Marina, Alexx watched Calleigh's mind wandering away. "Sometimes I just feel like karma's going to find me some day."

Alexx was about to open her mouth but was cut off by another woman s voice, surprising the pair. "Officer Duquesne?" The two women turned from the window, looking up to meet the eyes of a dark-haired young woman with eyes as green as her shirt. "It is you." She grinned and Calleigh narrowed her eyes in confusion.

"I'm sorry, I don't-"

"Wow, it's been nearly four years now, but I knew I recognised you. You helped my brother. You found the evidence that proved he was innocent."

"I'm sorry, I process so many cases. But please," Calleigh smiled warmly. "I'm off duty, so Mrs Delko is fine."

"Oh," The woman nodded, shaking her hand and then reaching over to shake Alexx hand. Though while Calleigh seemed to smile brightly and genuinely toward the woman, Alexx expression was one of almost complete suspicion. "Delko, I've heard that name. Isn't that the name of the other officer that worked my brother's case, Eric Delko right? That's your husband?"

Calleigh cleared her throat awkwardly. "Yeah. Actually, you know what? Calleigh's fine."

"Sure. So this is your son?"

When Calleigh glanced over to Alexx, her friend picked up on the rising weird feeling that was drifting between them. Clutching Andrew's knee beneath the table, Calleigh felt her hackles start to rise. This woman hadn't given her name, nor that of the brother she'd supposedly saved. And she was feeling like such a fool for divulging anything to this stranger, even something as simple as the fact Eric was her husband. Because she liked to pride herself on never forgetting the faces of the people she'd helped in the line of duty, not being able to draw even the slightest recollection of this woman's face had her a little on edge.

"Ah, yes." Calleigh nodded, patting Andrew's back. "Say hello to the lady, sweet pea."

"Hello." He answered, with a nugget halfway to his mouth.

"He's a little shy."

"Oh that's alright, most kids his age are, right? Anyway, it was lovely to run into you again, _Mrs Delko_, enjoy your lunch." She looked down at Alexx who simply nodded her head and watched the woman leave, eyes locked on her back until she was gone.

"That was very bizarre," Alexx commented, lifting Andrew up higher in his chair to stop him slipping forward.

"Very." Calleigh was still staring at the front door of the cafe. "Did you feel strange in that conversation?" Calleigh asked, turning to her.

"I was in that conversation?" Alexx scoffed and Calleigh smiled sagely. A"nyway, yes, there was something very strange about her."

**

"The strangest thing happened to me today." Calleigh commented as she collected Andrew's toys from the lounge-room floor and Eric was gathering up the plates from dinner and stacking them in the dishwasher.

"Yeah?" He glanced up at her as she fluffed a pillow on the couch and sat down to watch him. "What was that?"

"There was this woman. Alexx and I were just sitting down to lunch and she came up to me and called me _Officer Duquesne_ and said that I'd helped in her brother's case four years ago."

"What's weird about that?" Hitting the start button on the washer, Eric made his way across to her and smirked down at a stuffed toy that had been forgotten in Calleigh's half-assed cleaning attempt, then tossed it aside and sat down beside her, reaching across the back of the couch to massage the back of her neck.

"Well," Calleigh made a face, "I just got a very strange feeling from her; she didn't tell us her name and I definitely don't remember her."

"You said it was four years ago."

"Yeah, but I'm fairly certain I would have recognised her on some level, she wasn't plain at all. And then the way she said _Mrs Delko_ when she left just gave me chills." Calleigh watched Eric nodding and crinkled her nose. "I'm being silly, aren't I?"

Eric turned to her. "No," He pulled her gently towards him until she pulled her feet up onto the couch and rested her head against his chest. "No, I don't think you're being silly. Maybe a little paranoid, but that seems to be going around lately." He laughed.

"Why? Who else is being paranoid?"

"Wolfe. Who else did you think?" He chuckled. And she smiled against his shirt. "He actually came to me yesterday, wondering if I'd gotten a weird feeling about Greer."

"Officer Greer?" Calleigh questioned.

"Yeah."

"He's a little strange, but nothing really stands out. Why's Ryan getting a strange feeling? As far as I knew, they hadn't met."

"They haven't," Eric reached over Calleigh and grasped the television remote, flicking it on. "He just said he looked into your lab and Greer seemed to be acting a little strange."

Calleigh grabbed the television remote from his hand and turned down the volume; she'd only just managed to get Andrew to sleep after a good hour of him complaining about his sore throat and cough and Eric had a habit of playing it too loud. "Has Ryan looked in the mirror lately? He's not exactly the poster boy for normality." She giggled and Eric rested a hand in her hair, snorting his agreement through a laugh.

"Don't worry about it, Cal. It was probably just an open and shut case that affected her deeper than it affected us. She was probably just being polite."

"Yeah," she breathed. "You're probably right. But hey," she smirked. "She remembered your full name. I'm surprised she didn't quote your badge number and describe your exact height and build."

"Am I sensing a touch of jealousy there?"

"Little ol' me?" She played at innocent. "Jealous? Not a chance." Calleigh rolled over, resting herself against his chest so that she could look up into his eyes with a playful light in her own. "But I wouldn't be surprised if she had the hots for you."

"Oh really?" He grinned. "Why's that?"

Calleigh's voice dropped several levels, until it was sultry, smooth and so much more pronouncedly southern as she answered. "Because I do."


	6. Chapter 6

Officer Greer waited patiently in the ballistics lab, diligently reading over files Officer Duquesne had given him to study just the day before so that he could acclimatize himself to the general feel of their cases and investigative style. She'd also handed him books and journals, all full from cover to cover with gun types, bullet types, cleaning, shooting and aiming methods for firearms, which lay currently unread on the counter ahead of him. He was a fairly hard worker, when it came to learning and progressing. But Officer Duquesne was proving to be a stricter teacher than her appearance had insinuated. Looking up suddenly, he heard a sound coming from the hall - the distinctive sound of rigid high heels against battered linoleum. Gathering up his papers, as well as a few hidden within the folds of a ballistics magazine that he shouldn't have been reading, he poised himself for the sound of her voice as she rounded the corner into Ballistics, deep in conversation with a woman with dark hair and a rather conservative dress-sense that consisted of a two-piece salmon sweater set and a beige corduroy skirt. On first glance, they appeared to be the same height, but on further inspection and a look back on the four days he d already spent observing Officer Duquesne he could see that the unknown woman was actually quite tall and Calleigh s shoes had the desired effect of an optical illusion.

"Good morning," he said brightly, startling the two women whose conversation halted when they noticed him sitting there, perched on her stool.

"Good morning," Calleigh answered, furrowing her brow as she glanced around the lab, somewhat confused as to why he was there, regardless of the fact that he was assigned to work with her for the whole week.

"Okay, so I ll just make sure he gets these." The woman unknown to Greer smiled a silent greeting before patting Calleigh's elbow, causing Calleigh to abandon her wayward curiosities in favour of finishing the conversation her student had so suddenly halted.

"Yes, please, one after lunch and if he has a snack..."

The woman cut her off. "Don't worry, Calleigh," She answered, placating her with a kind smile before shaking the tiny pill bottle and turning to leave the lab.

"What was that about?" Greer questioned, watching her make her way across the lab, pulling her suit jacket off as she went. He watched her slip her lab coat on, before turning around to face him with a deep breath and a grin.

"My son, he's just got a bit of a cold, that's all," she answered, busying herself with gathering up her first test-fire weapon of the day.

"Your son? he questioned and Calleigh nodded, glancing in his direction almost distractedly, before sliding the barrel of the 9mm back and slipping the empty clip out in order to replace it.

"Yeah, my son."

"Hm," He made a sound that seemed almost rude, if it hadn't sounded more surprised. She stopped what she was doing, in order to look up at him.

"What?"

"Oh nothing," he answered, smiling brightly, which for some reason caused her blood to start simmering.

"No, I'd like to know, Officer Greer," she stated, harsher than she'd intended. If nothing came of the bitter taste in her mouth, she'd blame it all on hormones and laugh about it with Eric later that night because he was the one that planted this suspicion in her head but right at that moment, her little student's attitude had her on edge.

"It's just...I didn t know you had a kid, that's all." He shrugged. "I guess I just figured this one was your first. She glanced down at her belly, poking through the gap in her lab coat and covered by a thin, taut, white t-shirt.

"Okay." She drew out the word, wondering where this line of thought had come from and not really sure if she wanted to stop him or find out where it was going.

"You just..." He rested his palms against the surface of the workbench. "I didn't want to say anything but, you don't wear any wedding rings. I suppose I just assumed that you were-"

She cut him off. "That I was 'knocked-up' for lack of a more mature explanation?" She questioned knowing that her face had turned a slightly brighter shade of pink. And she took him silently looking into her eyes as answer enough.

"Let's just ignore the fact that it's none of your business, just for a moment and I'll clear it up for you. I am married; I have a son and the reason I don't wear wedding rings at work I would think is rather self-explanatory." She gestured to the lab itself as a whole, hoping it would slip into his mind, that a set of thick wedding rings in a lab full of chemicals, knobs and switches would cause more damage and annoyance than it was worth. "And I'd just like to make sure you understand that you have no right to assume anything where I'm concerned. Do you understand me?"

Slowly, Greer nodded and swallowed. "Are we firing that?" He pointed down to the empty 9mm still in her hand and Calleigh cleared her throat.

"No." Slipping the gun back into the evidence container, Calleigh sealed it with a temporary seal before placing it in her Ballistics locker. Heading back over to the bench, she reached across it, feeling a growing resistance against her abdomen - because it was getting increasingly harder to reach across that bench - as she grabbed the largest gun reference folder and dropped it in front of him. "You're going to read this. I've got to go speak to someone, about the case."

If Greer was going to protest, it fell dead on his lips when she looked up at him, her simmering glare enough to make Horatio sweat and anxiously bite his lower lip.

**

"I'm starting to think Ryan had it right, Calleigh growled and Eric spun around from the fridge with a smirk on his face as she walked into the break-room. Watching her as she stomped across the room, Eric s smirk slipped from his face because he could see by the tension in her shoulders and the determination in her walk, that she was anything but entirely comfortable.

"What do you mean?" he questioned, stepping up behind her as she stood at the counter, terrorising a tea bag. Wrapping his arms around her waist, Eric placed his hands on her stomach with a ghost of a smile, as he placed his chin on her shoulder and kissed her neck through her hair.

"What you said the other night, about Ryan being suspicious of Greer."

Leaning a little to the side, Eric managed to meet her eyes with a frown. "What's he done?"

"Nothing," she grumbled, giving up on the tea in favour of the candy bar she d caught in her peripheral vision. Reaching past Eric, she snatched it from the countertop, frowning down at the menacing post-it stuck to its underside that read; 'Ryan Wolfe s, Do Not Touch'. Looking up at Eric with a raised eyebrow, Calleigh made a show of ripping the post-it up, scrunching it in a ball and tossing it in the trashcan before she tore open the candy bar and sunk her teeth into the soothing chocolate and crunchy wafer. Eric chuckled as her eyes fluttered closed and she released the tiniest of moans before he cleared his throat, dragging her out of her private little moment because he wanted to know what had her so riled up. "Just..." Letting out a breath, Calleigh slipped out of his hold and crossed to the couch. "He made...assumptions..." She gestured towards her stomach, looking up at him whilst she munched on her candy bar. "About this."

"Assumptions?" Eric sat down beside her, pressing his hand to the small of her back.

Calleigh let out a huff. "Maybe I should wear my rings at work."

"Calleigh," Eric laughed gently, never having seen her jittering with this kind of discomfort. Not even when she was pregnant with Andrew and had everyone around the lab asking her who the father was, and whether or not she'd developed a profound love or a profound loathing for dill pickles and ice-cream. CSIs, Eric deduced, were entirely too out of touch with pregnancy and the actions of those closest to them, seeing as their marriage was known only by Horatio, the immediate team and their respective parents for the first six months.

"He assumed I was unmarried and knocked up." She made a face.

Eric snorted. "Really?"

"It's not funny, Eric. Do I look like the kind of woman that would do this accidently?" The incredulity in her eyes continued to amuse him. She slapped his arm and moved to turn away from him, but Eric grabbed her hand, pulling back towards him until her back was pressed to his chest and he could rest his hands over her stomach again.

"Come on, Cal, you know I understand. I've just never seen you so bothered like this before."

"I don't know," Calleigh smiled softly as she rested her temple against his forehead. "I guess I've just been a little moody lately." She closed her eyes as he kissed her temple. "I know it's irrational, he just got under my skin."

"I know," he murmured against her temple. "How about this weekend we take Andrew to New Orleans to see your brother, and you can relax and forget about this place for a couple of days."

"Yeah," Calleigh breathed. "That'd be nice. You working late tonight?"

"Yeah, Baines is sick so I'm pulling a double but I'll see you in the morning." Eric smiled and helped Calleigh off the couch before she turned around and kissed his lips chastely.

"We'll come say goodnight before we leave."

"I'd love that." She kissed him again, smiling brightly as she sauntered out the door. How she could saunter with four months of baby starting to weigh her down, he wasn t sure. But as long as she continued to wear those heels, which likely had another month on them at least, he d continue to think she was a goddess and perhaps for quite a while after that.


	7. Chapter 7

Listening to the crashing sound of the ocean in the distance, Calleigh sighed to herself peacefully. The back doors of the house were wide open and the cool night s breeze was filtering through the house. The moon was full, and though she was a little chilly she preferred pulling on a sweater over closing up the house to how crisp and clear the night was. The light from the television was filtering through the kitchen, reflecting off the stainless steel fridge, an image of Pingu on a rickety old snow-cat. "Alright sweet-pea, it's time for bed," she called, and smiled when a little head of thick mousy curls poked themselves up over the back of the couch. "Time to turn it off."

"Mommy," he whined, but she narrowed her eyes and the boy reluctantly slid off the lounge, carrying the remote to her as she met him halfway. He waddled down the hall, awkward in his diaper after a long day of playing and squealing and throwing grapes at Grandpa which had become his current favourite pastime.

Lifting him up, Calleigh kissed his cheek and rested him on her hip as she turned down his crib. "I love you, Mijo." Kissing him again, she placed him down gently, smiling because his thumb was already in his mouth and as she pulled the blanket up over him, his eyes were already starting to droop.

"I love you, Mami," he drawled and she could hear a hint of her accent on his lips. It only came out sometimes, when he was incredibly tired or throwing one of his rare, but intense, temper tantrums. He was his mother's son, after all. His accent was a gift, not a curse, as she liked to explain to Eric who insisted on describing her accent as cute .

**

Watching through the thin panel of plated glass, his eyes were set on her retreating figure. She made her way across the kitchen, collecting plates and toys left in the wake of the small boy contentedly watching cartoons from the lounge. If he didn't have an obligation, he'd simply take this time outside the quiet suburban home to study the creature inside. She was like an exotic bird to his eyes, locked up in a cage, waiting for him to free her. But as he studied the long train of golden hair cascading down her back, the smooth lines of her hips as she moved away from him, he realised that he needed to clear his mind. He was on a mission and he couldn't allow himself to fail.

Hearing the sounds of the television halt, he saw the pair disappear down the hall and for a moment, he panicked. But he quickly righted himself when he found a way to follow the lights all the way around to the small room by the front garden, having enough foliage by the window for him to sit comfortably and rest his contorted back for a moment as he watched.

She sang a lullaby in Spanish and while he found himself listening as closely as he could manage, it became futile when he remembered he didn t know a word of Spanish. Before long, the boy was asleep and she was passing the windows again, running her fingers through her hair, causing his heart to beat faster before she disappeared to a part of the house he couldn't yet see.

**

Calleigh cleared her throat, flicking off the lights in the kitchen before heading over to the back doors. She rested a hand on each handle, smiling up at the moon and taking one last deep breath of night air, before closing them and flicking the lock over with a sharp click.

She straightened the cushions on the couch, smiling at the tattered and flattened cushion that Andrew liked to wrap his little body around when he watched television either alone or sprawled across Eric s chest. She smiled at the image it conjured though when she straightened herself she wrapped her arms around her own body and looked towards the darkened doorway to her bedroom. Eric wouldn't be there tonight and a part of her loathed the idea that she d become so dependent on his arms and the rhythmic beat of his heart to lull her to sleep. Shaking her thoughts of a lonely, sleepless night away, Calleigh flicked off the last lamp by the television. Twisting a lock of hair around her finger and rubbing a hand over her stomach with a faint smile, Calleigh made her way up the hallway, dimly glowing by the light of Andrew's night-light.

Quickly she glanced into his room, making sure that he was sound asleep before pulling the door closed a little further until only a crack of light was shining out. Pausing, Calleigh froze when she heard a noise. Looking back into the room, she furrowed her brow when she realised that Andrew hadn t even moved. The sound was like a soft thud, but nothing in the room had moved. Shaking it off as tiredness, she continued up the hall, scratching the nape of her neck as she pulled her sweater off and carefully placed it over the back of a chair. She made her way across the room and climbed into bed, shuffling into the blankets with a contented sigh.

Calleigh wrapped her arms tightly around Eric's pillow, nuzzling her nose into the soft cotton case as she squirmed in the bed and stretched her legs out experimentally on his side. She always felt a little strange, venturing on to his side when he wasn't there, like she was invading some sort of sacred ground. But the further she got on to his side of the bed, the safer and more at peace she felt. The smell of him surrounded her and the small flutters from her belly eased, and she liked the idea that the baby seemed to find peace where she did.

Blinking in the darkness, she shifted a little as she heard soft footsteps in the hall. There was a slight shuffle before she felt a small hand searching for her ankle at the foot of the bed and when he found it, she felt him grip her foot through the fabric of the blanket and use it as leverage to pull himself up on to the bed.

She stayed completely still as he shuffled across her body, pressing his little palm uncomfortably against her side for a moment, before sliding over her and flopping onto the side of the bed she was facing. She didn t even wonder how he d gotten out of the crib; he d become an escape artist at a very young age and on nights when Eric had to work, she was never surprised to hear light foot-steps coming down the hall.

"Mommy?" he tried, thinking she was sound asleep and she did keep her eyes closed, if only to keep up the rouse. "Mommy?" he whispered again, as if lowering his voice might, in some way, help him.

"Mmm," she mumbled, snuggling her pillow closer.

"Mommy." His voice sounded scared and she decided that he wasn't simply playing at wanting to sleep in her bed, just because Daddy wasn't there.

"What's wrong, baby?" Pulling Eric's pillow aside, she grasped his wrist gently and urged him to move towards her, until he was lying on his side, facing her.

"There was a monster outside my window. Can I sleep with you?"

She could almost see tears welling in his eyes and she smiled, trying to reassure him. "There's no such thing as monsters, sweet-pea." She brushed his hair away from his forehead adoringly.

"I scared, Mommy."

"Come here." She wrapped her arm around his waist and pulled him closer, pushing at his shoulder until he rolled over and she could drag him across the bed and hug him against her chest. Burying her face in the back of his neck, she kissed his hair. "You can stay with Mommy, ok."

He was silent for a few moments, fiddling with her wedding rings absently and she could feel his fingers slowly starting to still. He was falling asleep. When she thought he was almost completely gone, she snuggled closer and let her own eyes close only to be surprised by his little voice. "Where is Papi?"

"He's at work, baby." She kissed his hair again. "He'll be home when you get up."

"Okay." His voice sounded sleepy and Calleigh smiled, hugging him closer as her own eyes started to droop. She felt better having him close. Sleeping on Eric's side of the bed felt strange. But when Andrew was curled up in front of her, that thought drifted from her mind and she found the absolute peace she'd been searching for in Eric's pillowcase.

"Can I have Mr Snuggles?" Calleigh grinned into her pillow, at the name of her son's favourite bear. Kissing the top of his head, she nodded and slowly dragged herself from the bed.

Stumbling towards the door, she grabbed her sweater and quickly wrapped it around herself before she skirted into Andrew's room. Grabbing the bear, she was about to turn around and head back when she felt the chilly breeze against the back of her neck. "I swear I closed that window," she uttered to herself. Cautiously, she moved towards the window, tucking the bear under her arm as she reached through the curtains to pull the window down. When it closed with a clunk she peered through the curtains, searching the street outside with her eyes. Hmm, she shrugged, heading back towards her room.

"Here you go, sweetie." She kissed his forehead and stood up straight to remove her sweater again, when suddenly she felt the sharp, cold metal of a gun barrel to her temple.

"Don't fight," a whispered voice uttered in her ear.

"What do you want from me?" She looked down at Andrew, gripping his bear close to his chest, still in the fuzzy land between awake and asleep.

"You're coming with us."

Calleigh tried to squirm away, but when the barrel of the gun was pushed painfully against her temple and she felt the man's arm snake around her waist and rest on her stomach, she froze. The feel of his hand against her stomach made her blood turn to ice. Knowing there was just a thin layer of her flesh between her baby and the man currently holding her life in his hands, she quivered. "Who are you?" Her voice broke as she asked, her nervous jittering intensifying as she noticed Andrew waking up.

"Mommy," Calleigh pressed her eyes closed tightly. "Mommy, you okay?" Calleigh opened her eyes as her little boy sat up in the bed, hugging the bear to his chest.

"Sweet-pea, it's alright," she tried to reassure him, but bit her lip when she could see his eyes starting to well up with tears.

"Pick up the kid," the man ordered her, and Calleigh glanced across the room, staring at the draw that held her gun though knowing there was no way she could get to it without him shooting either her or Andrew. "Pick him up!" he demanded, shoving her forward and she scrambled to stay standing, scraping her fingernails down his arm and she only just managed to catch herself before she went face first into the bed. Scrambling around the outside, Calleigh grabbed Andrew and clutched him to her chest. He whimpered and she could feel his little body shaking as he wrapped his arms around her neck. "Now move." He shook the gun towards the door and carefully, Calleigh shuffled towards the door.

"Alexei, get them moving!" Calleigh startled, when the second man burst through her bedroom door. She clutched Andrew tighter, pulling back but jumped when the first man, Alexei, still standing on the opposite side of the bed shook the gun at her angrily. "Don't move!" He demanded and she froze.

"_Dimitri, you are stupid. Go get the car, now_!" Alexei yelled in Russian and the man who had burst into the room with a 9mm in the air over his shoulder was gone as quickly as he'd come and Calleigh suddenly found herself being pulled towards the door, by her elbow. She had to think quickly; she knew there was no way she was fighting her way out of this situation, unarmed, pregnant and carrying her son. She had to think of another alternative.

Frantically searching the dim room with her eyes, Calleigh caught sight of her cell phone lying on the dresser by the bedroom door. She glanced in Alexei's direction and while he was focused on dragging her out of the room, trying not to trip over his own feet and shoot himself in the dark, she quickly snatched the phone and slipped it into the pocket of Andrew's pajamas.

**

"Eric, how are you doing?" Horatio asked, stepping into the fingerprinting lab with a faint smile on his lips. The night was proving to feel longer than normal, and Eric had a sinking feeling in his gut that something wasn't right. He'd felt strange all night, thinking about Calleigh and worrying about the case. Ever since they came together, he'd never let thinking of her become such a profound distraction. But tonight, he couldn t get his mind off her and Horatio had noticed that something was up.

"I'm alright, just wishing the shift was over." Eric replied and Horatio nodded, he understood.

"I know you want to get home to them."

"I've just got this weird feeling, that's all."

"Like something isn't right?"

Eric's eyes widened, because the tone of Horatio's voice sounded more like he felt it too, than that he simply understood the concept. "Yeah," he breathed, watching Horatio take another step towards him and rest his palms against the countertop.

"Look, Eric, the case is sitting stagnant. We've had no other leads apart from that print that matched Brize and a small drop of blood that's going to take the next few hours to properly analyse. Go home; see your wife and your son."

"H, wait, you found blood?"

"Tara discovered it on Mrs Sala's clothes, blood that didn't match hers."

"So if we find a match, we've got the guy?"

"Something that we can handle, Eric. Go home," Horatio insisted, and Eric nodded reluctantly. He gathered up the papers he had scattered over the counter and placed them in a neat pile in the corner before looking up into his friend's eyes.

"She's probably fast asleep with Andrew snoring in the bed next to her." Eric chuckled, and Horatio let a brief grin, ghost across his lips.

"Probably," he agreed, watching Eric leave the room with a stack of files to put away before heading home.


	8. Chapter 8

"_Mijo, listen to me. When Mommy makes the man stop, I want you to run as fast as you can. Do you understand?" _Calleigh whispered into Andrew's ear in Spanish as she tried to inconspicuously pick the skin cells from under her nails, out and drop them into Andrew's breast pocket, as they sat clutched together in the back of the large SUV.

"_But_ _Mama, I am scared_." Andrew cried, with tears streaking his cheeks.

"_That's alright, baby. But Mama needs you to be brave. Do you remember how to call Daddy on the cell phone_?" Calleigh glanced up ahead. The driver, Dimitri, kept glancing back at them and she could feel the angry eyes of Alexei against the side of her face. He was staring back at her from the front passenger seat, with his gun clutched desperately at his thigh.

"_Si, mama."_ He nodded, lowering his voice as she had. Calleigh nodded before pulling her son against her chest, running her fingers through his hair and kissing his forehead, hoping that she would be able to get him out of this.

"Hey!" She looked up at Alexei, who'd rested the gun against the shoulder of the chair, pointing it directly at her head. "English." He stated and Calleigh narrowed her eyes.

"_Or would you prefer this?"_ Calleigh smirked smugly, hoping she'd managed that small amount of Russian correctly. But when his face burned red with fury, she winced and had barely a moment's time to prepare for the butt of his gun cracking her across the jaw. She jerked her body over Andrew's, pressing her hand to her jaw as she yelped in pain and her hair flew across her face.

Alexei didn't utter a word, just turned back around and stared at her in the rear-view mirror. It was that moment, when fear for her life, her son's life and the reality of the situation hit her all at once. She needed to get her son out, now.

"I'm going to throw up." She stated and Alexei turned around, glaring.

"Then don't open your mouth." He answered, in his thick accent.

"It's not that simple," she insisted. "I'm pregnant, I m going to throw up and I don't think your boss would appreciate the cost of re-upholstering." Alexei growled and Calleigh made a show of swallowing awkwardly, holding her hand over her mouth and dry-reaching.

"Alright!" he yelled. "Alright, alright, Dimitri, stop the car."

Calleigh watched as both men climbed out of the car and Alexei made his way around the front. She took her moment, as slim as it was, to grab for the door and push Andrew out.

"Run! Andrew!" she screamed. "Run! Don t stop. Call Papa!" She continued to scream, even as the two men dragged her out of the car by her feet and Alexei held her around the middle, slamming his hand over her mouth painfully as she kicked and squirmed as best she could. He lost hold of her for a second, and Calleigh screamed with all that she had, out into the bushes where her nearly three year old son had run with tears streaming down his face, feet as bare as the day he was born and a determination she was glad was hereditary. She watched, anxiously, her eyes filled with terror as Dimitri ran for the tree-line, completely intent on following the boy when Alexei suddenly called him back.

"Forget the kid," he ordered, sneering down at Calleigh who continued to squirm in his hold. "Forget him."

Hugging her stomach with both hands, Calleigh was shoved back into the car with far less care than she'd been shown earlier. If letting her climb in herself with a gun at her back could be considered as care. Turning her gaze to steel, she watched them as they both climbed back into the car, this time with Alexei's gun trained on her continuously and they sped off again.

**

One step, and then another step.

With each one, the feel of the ground beneath his feet changed. He had run, with his eyes clouded from tears as he'd felt cold, smooth concrete beneath his toes. He'd heard her voice, screaming behind him to run. Then he slipped and fell and he cut his palms on harsh gravel. The sound of the cars around him, beeping their horns and screeching their brakes, frightened him. He slowed to a walk, when he realised that he didn't know where he was. Looking up at the tall, empty, buildings around him he followed the line of a crane up towards the sky. He called for her, but she didn't answer. He was too far away now. He saw the big yellow truck ahead of him and smiled, it was something he recognised, but it was so much larger than he remembered.

The sand clung to his sticky feet as he tripped and gave up on walking, instead sitting in the dirt and finding her phone buried deep in his pocket. He had to remember how it worked. He d promised her. He loved her more than he loved anyone and he had promised her through his fear. But he didn t know how to call him; he knew that he d seen her use the phone before, he d spoken to his Papa on it so many times, but which button was it? He held it in his little hands, looking down at the screen that glowed green in the darkness and it was covered in different buttons. His papa had to be one of the buttons, right? With tears streaking his face, he called her name again, hoping that maybe if he screamed loud enough, she d come back.

She always came, he didn't understand.

He pressed the button in the very middle of the phone, number five; he remembered because Papa had taught him last week, to count to five. The phone made a strange sound and he stared at it, listening intently as it beeped and beeped before a voice answered. The voice was familiar. But with tears pouring from his eyes again, he realised it wasn't familiar enough.

*  
Natalia was peering through the scope when her cell-phone started to chirp. She jumped; startled because she d been so engrossed in what she was doing that she was barely aware of the time or the day, or night apparently. "Boa Vista." She answered cheerfully, holding her phone to her ear with her shoulder as she needed both hands to move a sample to the scope.

There was silence for a moment, but for the sound of a few cars in the distance and a person's jagged breathing.

"Hello?" She questioned and still, nothing but breathing. "Look, if this is a prank-"

She was cut off, by a terrified wail. "I want papa!" Natalia was stunned, to say the least. The pitch of the cry alone had made her jump.

"Who is this?" She questioned, now ignoring her samples in favour of the anonymous caller.

"Papa! I want Papa! Bad men made Mommy went away," Natalia's brow furrowed; the child sounded no older than three or four and he was crying for his father. "PAPA!" he screamed and Natalia clutched the phone tightly to her ear.

"Sweetie, I need you to calm down." She listened closely to his breathing evening out slowly and she had to take a deep breath herself. "I need to know who your papa is."

"Papa!" he insisted and Natalia decided to try a different tact.

"Okay, you want your father. Sweetie, if I'm going to help you, I need to know your name."

The boy's cries softened to a few whimpers and several sniffles before he whispered into the phone, through tears she could still hear. "Andrew," he answered softly, and Natalia's eyebrows nearly hit the ceiling.

"Okay, honey, I need you to stay right where you are. I'm going to find your papa." Natalia bolted out of the lab, slamming her palms against the clear glass as she pushed the doors open and ran down the corridor with the phone clutched to her ear. "Sweetie, I need you to stay on the phone, can you do that?" She insisted, peering into each lab as she staggered through the halls in her high heels, catching the worried eyes of Ryan as she ran past toxicology and down towards Horatio's office and nearly crashing into Jake Berkeley's back as she barrelled through the lobby.

"Okay," came the little boy's response and Natalia dashed into Horatio s office without so much as knocking, causing the red-head's eyebrows to raise in sync with his body as he stood.

"Horatio, where's Eric?" She demanded. Ignoring the curious eyes of Jake behind her in the hall.

"I sent him home, why?"

"Has he left?!" She begged, desperately.

"Natalia, what's going on?" He rounded the table, grasping her elbow as she held the phone out to him.

"It's Andrew, he said that bad men took his mom." She paused, gasping. "Horatio, someone's taken Calleigh."

"What?" Jake shrieked, bursting into the office and Natalia met his eyes.

Horatio took the phone from her hand and calmly raised it to his ear. "Andrew, son, do you remember me? It's Horatio."

"_You are Mommy and Daddy's friend."_

"That's right, son. I am their very good friend. Now, do you know who's taken your Mom?" Horatio could hear him sniff and he met Natalia s eyes for a moment. "Andrew, do you know where you are?"

"_No,"_ he cried.

"Okay, now Andrew, I need you to listen very carefully." Stepping between Natalia and Jake, Horatio headed out of his office, quickly. "I'm going to bring your dad to you, but I need you to stay on the phone, do you understand?"

He heard no response from the other end of the line and stopped moving for a moment, staring at Natalia. "Andrew?" he questioned and there was the sound of a city street in the background, but still no little voice. "Andrew?" he questioned again, his voice dripping with a fear he didn t normally show.

"_Yes,"_ came a whisper and Horatio dipped his shoulders in relief.

"Okay, Andrew, I'm coming. Just stay with me!" He ran out of the office with Natalia and Jake, right behind him.

"Wolfe!" he yelled, making his way down the corridor, all business and no patience. "I want you to get a search chopper in the air. Natalia." He looked back over his shoulder. "Get to AV, I want them to track this call." Without hesitation, she was gone and he turned back to Wolfe.

"What's going on, H?" Ryan questioned, flipping his phone closed after doing what was asked of him without question.

"Calleigh's missing and her son is on the other end of this phone call, Ryan." Ryan's eyes widened in fear as he spun around to follow Horatio. "Has Eric left?"

"Yeah, he left nearly twenty minutes ago."

"Get to his house," he said pointedly and Ryan immediately understood. Andrew was going to need his father; he was going to cry for him. And Eric was going to get the fright of his life, getting home to see his whole family gone.


	9. Chapter 9

"You're going to regret that," the thicker of the two accents, Dimitri, whispered in her ear as they dragged her from the car, pushing her towards a darkened doorway of an abandoned building.

"I doubt it." Calleigh snarled, terrified that her son was out there on his own but she didn't let them see that. She trusted Andrew, she had faith in him and she knew that somehow, Eric would find him. She had to believe it or she'd die right where she stood.

"Get over there!" Alexei shoved her and Calleigh stumbled against the wall, catching her toe on the jagged edge of a concrete slab; she tripped and braced herself against the wall, breaking what could have been a nasty fall. Turning around, she rested her back against the wall, feeling the cold, rough concrete on her shoulder where her sweater had torn and her camisole didn't cover. She stood tall, using the wall as her strength and holding her chin up defiantly.

"Where is he?" Dimitri demanded and a flicker of confusion crossed her eyes, before she swallowed and steeled herself.

"Who?"

"You know _who!"_ he snapped, lunging for her, but Alexei held him back with a hand on his arm.

"We can't kill her," he warned and Calleigh felt her heart soar at the idea. She wasn't ready to die and knowing there was some reason they needed to keep her alive apart from the fact that she didn t know what that was the tiny flame of hope inside her grew a little. "Not yet," Alexei clarified and Calleigh felt her flame go out completely.

"You're Sarnoff's men, aren't you?" She figured, if she was on the block, she might as well ask the questions worth asking before the end.

Neither man answered and Calleigh took that as an affirmative. She'd thought Horatio had killed him, Horatio thought he'd killed him. But the Russian Mob were like a swarm of radioactive cockroaches; there was just no getting rid of them.

They'll give him to us, in return for you."

Calleigh scoffed and rolled her eyes. She didn't know who they wanted, she didn't know who they could possibly want and she didn't know why they'd take her over the rest of the team. The hit was still on all of them, considering Sarnoff had never died. So she didn't know why they'd choose her over the rest of the able-bodied CSIs they wanted dead. She figured that it had to have something to do with Eric, but then why kidnap her, why not just kill her? And how could they have possibly known about them? Horatio had made sure the details and records of their marriage were kept sealed, that Andrew's birth certificate was kept under wraps so that none of their enemies would be able to use it. But then she remembered the strange woman at the marina, sporting a story of Calleigh's help and she unconsciously slapped herself for not being more cautious. That woman was how he'd known. But thinking over all this in the space of time it took the butt of Alexei's gun to collide with her lip again, Calleigh started to fear the lengths Eric would go to, to get her back. And as she held her stinging face in one hand, bracing herself against the wall with the other, she feared exactly what he'd give them to save her.

**

Ryan sped through the streets of Miami. His siren was blaring as he tried to remember how Calleigh had taught him to dodge traffic like a maniac without actually hitting a single car along the way. It brought memories forward, of all the things she'd taught him and brought to the forefront of his mind exactly what it would mean if they lost her. Losing Calleigh could never just be losing Calleigh. Losing her would mean the loss of a colleague, a mentor and a friend. Losing her would mean the loss of his best friend, because Eric wouldn t recover and losing her would mean the loss of an innocent little girl who'd never see the world her mother and father fought so tirelessly to protect. Speeding up, as if it would get him there with more of a chance to save Eric the panic and the fear, Ryan screeched into their sleepy little street, with the big houses, the mini-vans and sound of children laughing. He'd never imagined Calleigh would have been so welcomed in such a predominantly Cuban neighbourhood, but he had seen that she had fit in as if the streets were filled with quick-tongued southerners who liked their guns and their mimosas; each time he'd come to their house for a beer to find the whole neighbourhood in their backyard with Eric at the barbeque and Calleigh serving drinks.

Clearing his head, Ryan haphazardly parked the car alongside Eric's Hummer, which was parked on the drive. His heart raced as he noticed the front door to the house, sitting open and he worried that Eric, in his panic, may have set off on foot.

"Eric?" he called through the doorway, hesitating at the threshold with his gun out and ready. He heard a shuffle and a thud, and with caution he made his way down the hall. He passed the bathroom; checking, passed Andrew's bedroom and he glanced inside, nothing. "Eric?" He called again and jumped when a dining chair came flying down the hallway, crashing against the frame of the front door because he'd jumped aside just in time.

"They're gone!" Eric screamed and Ryan quickly stowed his gun.

"Eric, man, calm down." He tried to placate him, reaching out for the man who was pacing with his hands clutched tightly to his head.

"The back door is broken, the bed isn't made. They're missing, Wolfe, they're missing!"

"I know," Ryan spoke softly, trying his best not to put a match to Eric's already inflamed temper. "I know, Eric."

Eric's eyes turned to him angrily. "You know? How the hell do you know?! What happened?" Eric grabbed his arms, as if shaking him could make all the answers come free of their own volition. But Ryan stilled him, grabbing the crook of his shoulder to make his friend meet his eyes.

"We don't know, Eric, but Horatio asked me to come get you. The entire force is out there searching for Andrew as we speak."

"Take me to him." Eric let him go, storming out the front door and not even bothering to close it. Ryan followed, pulling the door closed even though it was a pointless effort. The back door was already hanging off its hinges. "Take me to him, now."

**

"H, I've got Eric." Ryan spoke into the phone, glancing over at Eric a couple of times, before his friend's glare set his eyes on the road for good. "Yeah," he answered and Ryan passed the phone to Eric.

"Yeah, H." Eric answered, brusquely.

"_Jane's pinpointed Andrew's location to an abandoned construction site. Eric, I want you and Wolfe to meet me there. Jake's already en route."_

"I want to speak to him; can you have her patch the call to my phone?"

There was a pause on the line and Eric could feel his cheeks heating up. "_Eric, the line went dead a moment ago. The best we ve got to go on is that he s there, somewhere."_

"Then give me the address." Eric demanded, taking it from him before flipping the phone closed and throwing it back in Ryan 's lap. "Drive faster," he ordered, and while Ryan was a little unsure of this side of Eric, he knew it's what he had to do.

**

Eric looked up towards the sky, feeling the wind from the helicopter over head as the spot-light shone on him and Horatio and Ryan ran in the opposite direction, covering as much ground as they could. His blood was pumping angrily through his system; the pulse in his ears was overwhelming as he jogged across the site. He was surrounded by cops, uniformed and un-uniformed alike, searching, calling his son's name. He caught site of Jake Berkeley, running towards him on the lot, dodging a sniffer dog as he came up beside him.

He could barely hear him over the roar of the helicopter, but he could see the sincerity in his eyes. "Anything?" he asked and Jake shook his head, letting Eric push past him to make his way into the run-down building.

"Andrew!" he called, hearing it echoed from Jake's lips a few rooms over. "Delko!" Eric froze and turned, seeing the beams from the helicopter and the cars, streaming in through the cracks in the walls as Jake called his name. "Over here!" Eric stumbled over a broken table, tripped out into the hall and with a hand on either wall, launched himself towards the sound of Jake's voice.

"Papa!" Eric's heart soared at that one little four letter word. Jake had his hands at Andrew's waist as though he were poised to lift him off the ground, before Eric burst in the room and father and son were running for each other. Jake watched as Andrew practically jumped into Eric's arms, wrapped his little arms around his father's neck as Eric buried his face in his curly hair.

"Oh, thank god." Eric breathed, gripping the back of his son's head as he kissed his forehead fiercely. "Thank god." He muttered and Jake found himself watching, staring and fighting the bitter pang of jealousy in his mouth for the son that could have been his if he'd only tried a little harder, loved a little better.

**

It was right then that Calleigh realised it. Right now, her life was in jeopardy and tonight, the lives of both of her children were threatened. She had managed to save one, hoping against hope that Eric had found him by now and as she could feel the hard, cold pressure of a gun beneath her chin and the sharp stabbing pain of a fist in her hair, wrenching her head back to expose her throat, that maybe there was a chance she could save the other too.

She had no other choice.

This dangerous game they were playing was getting further out of hand as Sarnoff's fist came down across her face again. They were leaving her no other options; it was time to play not the cards she was dealt, but the cards she had hidden in her purse before the game had even begun.

Staring up into his eyes, with remarkable steel in her own, she swallowed deeply and whispered. "You know who I am. But if you kill me, you won't just be killing a cop." Her lips pressed into a thin line as his grip on her hair tightened and he cocked his head smugly, as if nothing she could say would unnerve him. "You'll be killing Alexander Sharova's grandchild." Narrowing her eyes, she felt she was gaining the upper hand as his fingers released her hair just slightly and the hand wielding the gun wavered just a little.

But when he released her hair, taking a step back as he let out a humourless, sinister laugh, her brow furrowed in confusion. She watched Ivan drop to his knees before her, coming close enough to her face that she could feel his breath on her cheeks and the eyes of Alexei and Dimitri at her back, as he whispered. "Then I have exactly the right person."


	10. Chapter 10

Eric stood with his palms pressed to the counter on either side of Andrew's hips as Natalia and Ryan worked tirelessly around him. Ryan was lifting trace samples and Natalia carefully removed Andrew's shirt. He shivered in the cold lab, but Eric rested his large hands on his son's little shoulders, attempting to warm him as best he could until he could find something for him to wear.

"Eric." He turned around at the sound of Valera's voice. She smiled softly, passing a role of gauze and some antiseptic wipes to him before leaving the room. Eric quickly set to work, cleaning the cuts on Andrew's hands and feet, gently picking out the gravel that was causing hot tears to spring to the little boy's eyes.

"It's okay," he reassured him with a kiss to his forehead and Ryan and Natalia shared a glance.

"Where's Mommy?" Andrew whimpered and it was all Eric could do not to take the boy into his arms.

"She's just a little lost, Mijo, but we re going to find her."

"Did the bad men hurt Mommy?"

Eric sighed, meeting Natalia's eyes over Andrew's shoulder. "I don't know, mijo." Eric finally let a tear fall, letting it run all the way down his cheek as Andrew looked into his eyes.

"Its okay, Papa." Andrew smiled, touching his father's cheek gently and Natalia could feel her own eyes welling up at the sight before her. Ryan smirked and she saw it out of the corner of her eye, ignoring him as she looked back down at Andrew's shirt.

"Eric." Both Eric and Ryan watched her as she carefully removed what she d found from the breast pocket of Andrew's shirt. It looks like skin cells, she stated, holding her tweezers up to the light.

"Mommy put." Andrew pointed and Eric grinned.

"We shouldn't really be surprised," he smirked, and Ryan and Natalia chuckled.

"No," Ryan agreed. "I think I'd be more stunned if Calleigh didn't leave us some breadcrumbs."

"Guys," Horatio stepped into the room hurriedly. "Eric, I need you to leave Andrew with Natalia. You and Wolfe, come with me."

Turning quickly, Eric kissed Andrew's forehead again before assuring the boy that he d be back as soon as he could and that Natalia would look after him until he could.

**

"What's going on, H?" Ryan asked, stepping out into the hall and closing Andrew and Natalia in behind them. Eric looked pensive, worried and anxious as he waited for Horatio to speak.

"We've had a call, from one of Sarnoff's men."

"Sarnoff? But I thought-"

Horatio cut him off. "He's not dead. Now, Eric, they have Calleigh and they're willing to give her up but they want something in return."

"What? Anything." Eric insisted but Horatio furrowed his brow.

"They want Sharova."

Eric froze. Somehow they'd found out that they had Sharova in custody. After Eric had broken him out of the gun heist four years ago, Eric had thought they would think Sharova was dead. But he'd betrayed them and he'd disappeared; no wonder they d want their revenge. Four years ago, Eric remembered Horatio telling him how Calleigh had walked his father out of the lab, with red-rimmed eyes and a rigid spine, towards the awaiting bus. Only Horatio had known that Sharova was being put into protective custody and only he knew where he was to go. How Ivan had worked it out, he didn t know. And how he'd discovered the connection between him and Calleigh, he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"They want my father?" Eric questioned and Horatio nodded.

"They said they're willing to let her go if Sharova gives himself up."

Eric scoffed. "So they want us to walk him in there to be murdered? Because, H, we both know that they only want him back to kill him."

"Either way, Eric, he's here and he wants to speak with you." Eric looked out through the glass walls to see his father standing with a uniformed officer, wearing a visitor's badge and looking older but not so different to the day that popped into his mind as he saw him standing there. It reminded him of the first day his father had acted like one, standing there in the lobby of immigration to save the son he d tried to kill. He remembered the look in his eyes and how much he felt he owed him for giving him his life back. Sharova didn't know just how much he'd given him that day, didn't know that when Eric had left holding, Calleigh had been waiting just outside, waiting to take him into her arms and into her heart. He didn't know that he'd given his son not just the chance to live, but the chance to have the family he'd dreamt of. And he could barely stomach the idea of asking him to do it all over again.

"Alright," Eric choked, slowly walking towards the door. Ryan and Horatio watched through the glass as Eric approached him. They watched them shake hands, watched how Eric shoved his hands in his pockets and looked away as Sharova grabbed his biceps gently shaking him and they could see that he was trying to convince him; of what, they didn t know.

**

"Let me do this," Sharova insisted.

"There has to be another way," Eric growled, pulling his hands from his pockets and shoving his father's hands away.

"I know who she is," Sharova whispered and Eric met his eye. "I know she's your wife. I met her once, remember? I should have seen it then, how angry she was with herself. She thought she'd killed you, you know?" Eric nodded. He and Calleigh had talked about it, about how, for the first time in eleven years, she'd cried in front of Horatio. "She's worth this, Eric," Sharova spoke softly. Eric pressed his lips into a thin line as he stared at his father. He hadn't wanted to admit it, that when all was said and done he really would choose Calleigh over his father. He certainly didn't want to say it, not to him, not in words. He didn't want to admit that it really had come to that. "It's not just your wife in there, Eric." Sharova looked out through the glass and Eric noticed him meet eyes with Horatio, knowing that as noble as Horatio could be, if a member of his team - his family - was threatened, he'd stoop to anything. And in that moment, Eric knew what he'd done. He was banking on Sharova's heart to crack even a fraction. "I have grandchildren," the old man choked and Eric nodded.

"We have to find another way."

"There is no other way, Eric," Sharova snapped. "Let me do this, for her, for you and for them."

"If you do this, they'll never know you," Eric pleaded and Sharova smiled, reaching up to grasp the back of his son's neck, pulling him closer, embracing him as a father would.

"But it is a far better thing, that they know their mother," he whispered. "She's worth it, Eric, she's worth it all."

"She is," he whispered but then straightened and met his eyes. "They are," he corrected and Sharova smiled. "But I can't say it."

"You don't have to." He smiled. Sharova patted the back of his head endearingly as he stepped around his son, making his way toward Horatio who, upon seeing his approach, immediately flipped out his phone.

**

Calleigh sucked in a deep breath, fighting tears as she watched Dimitri sitting slouched over the back of a chair in front of her, flipping a knife between his fingers. She had her eyes set on him, trying to read his menacing smirk as Sarnoff paced the room on the phone, speaking Russian at a speed she couldn t possibly translate. Her Russian was limited at best and her ability to speak it far surpassed her ability to understand it. But when he flipped the phone closed and moved towards her, chills started to course through her body.

"They're delivering the package as we speak." He grinned, glancing down at Calleigh who held nothing but disdain in her eyes and her stomach in her hands.

**

Sharova slowly walked across the open parking lot. He glanced as inconspicuously as he could, up at the building across the street. He knew that Lieutenant Caine had several snipers lying in wait and while he couldn t see them, he felt that they were there. These men, these men that his son was a part of, weren t willing to take any chances with the life of this woman and he smiled to himself, because as much in Eric's life he hadn't been there to give him, this woman had given tenfold. He was grateful to her, this woman who held more disdain for him than she'd voiced when last they met.

*  
Watching from a crack in the blinds, Sarnoff could see Sharova crossing the lot, making his way towards the door as he had been instructed. He scanned the street with his eyes, making sure they'd heeded his warning and it appeared that they had, until he caught sight of the glistening barrel of a sniper rifle in the building across the street. He snarled, angry, and quickly turned back to the woman sitting awkwardly against the wall, her long blonde hair forming a curtain over her eyes.

"It seems the men you surround yourself with do not value your life."

"Perhaps," Calleigh glared. "But if they value your death more, I'm glad of it."

Snatching the knife Dimitri was still flipping in his hand, Sarnoff stormed across the room and grabbed her by the hair. Calleigh squirmed, fighting him. Eyeing Alexei, the second man took hold of her arm, making sure she stayed still as Sarnoff thrust the blade into her side. Calleigh let out a scream of pain as she gripped her side and dropped unceremoniously to the floor.

Breathing deeply, Calleigh looked up at him from the floor, barely able to see through her hair as she met his eyes. "Then be glad," he stated, turning her heart and hope to ice as she felt her baby move within her. She just hoped, for all the pain, that he'd missed.

**

"Hello," Horatio answered his cellphone and Eric looked up at him. They were seated in the Hummer, just around the corner from where they were holding Calleigh. "Alright, thank you."

"What is it?" Eric asked impatiently.

"Natalia ran the DNA she found in Andrew's shirt. It came up as a match to the sample we found on Elizabeth Sala."

Eric nodded. "Dimitri Brize."

"Yes, Eric," Horatio pinched the bridge of his nose. "We have Brize for this. And it turns out that Rosa Mendes, the Sala's housekeeper was Dimitri's girlfriend."

"So why kill her?" Eric questioned, not quite following the point of all this.

"He used her to get close to Sala. The Sala's case had us on our toes...they were toying with us."


	11. Chapter 11

Sharova met Sarnoff's eyes as he stepped into the room. The two men stared at each other for a moment as Sharova stepped inside and Sarnoff closed the door behind him. As soon as Sharova saw Calleigh bundled in the corner, he dashed over to her. She was clutching her side and her hair was in her face, streaks of blood running through it where her soiled hand had tried to brush it away. She had a fever, she was sweating and her breathing was very, very low as he reached for her hand, resting his hand on the one that covered her wound.

"You will be alright," he whispered, brushing his fingers across her whitened knuckles as she hissed out a breath and he reached up to gently move the hair out of her face. "Can you walk?" he questioned and Calleigh clenched her teeth, shaking her head. "Okay."

He could see that she was eyeing him warily; she still distrusted him. But as he wrapped his arm under her back and the other under her legs, she didn't protest as he lifted her off the ground. "Why?" She rasped and Sharova smiled faintly, having more trouble seeing this strong, spirited woman like this than he thought he would have.

"Because she is my grandchild," he stated, simply as point of fact, and Calleigh seemed to take that. She appreciated that more than if he'd told her he was doing it for her, for Eric or because it was just the right thing to do. It was there, that she saw the nobility of gangsters and that a man, however criminal he had been in the past, could do the greatest things for family. She could see that for all his faults, this man had really wanted to be the father Eric had wished for when he read his name on a Cuban birth certificate. And she could see in his eyes, that while Eric had trusted him the moment his honesty set him free, it was Calleigh's understanding that he'd longed for, that the people who loved his son the most could see him for what he was, for what he wanted to be.

Standing before Sarnoff with Calleigh in his arms, Sharova met the man's eyes and being content in the pain he'd caused her, Sarnoff allowed Sharova to step outside with her and a gun at the back of his head. He stepped out into the parking lot, placing her down gently on the asphalt and ran a hand across her brow. "You will be alright," he assured her again and Calleigh nodded, hopeful but not entirely sure. When he stood to turn back around, she grasped his wrist quickly and made him stay as she whispered in his ear.

"Thank you." She didn t quite know what she was thankful for. In her fevered state, she didn't know if the pair of them were free or if they were being packed off to Russia, but his reassurance that she would be fine, resounded in her ears and she was thankful that he was there, in any case. She studied his eyes, as they softened and she could see them slowly brimming up with the first signs of tears.

"You will be okay," he promised and this time, she could feel that he meant it as he gripped her hand, squeezing it before he let go and stood. But before she could see him step back inside with Sarnoff, her heavy eyelids had fallen shut and she'd fallen into a world of unconsciousness.

**

"She's out," Horatio stated, having heard it over the radio from one of the snipers. Before he could reply though, Eric was out of the car and running around the corner with his gun at the ready. Sirens started to blare and as he bolted across the lot, three police cars, Horatio's Hummer and an ambulance screamed past him. He ducked behind a trashcan, as suddenly bullets came flying in his direction from the windows. And he could see Calleigh lying prone on the ground in her blood-soaked pajamas. She was in the center of a fire fight, asleep as she'd insist later and without a gun. It would be laughed about later, if she, Mareike and Sharova survived this.

The sound of guns to his left shocked him back into action and he fired back. Dashing from the trashcan to the closer telephone pole and could see Jake across the lot as he heard a body crash against the venetian curtains inside the building. The front door swung open, revealing Sarnoff with a gun held tightly to Sharova's temple and the firing from their end ceased.

"Walk away," he demanded, but suddenly, through the silence a single shot rang out. Eric glanced toward Horatio, whose gun was sitting level in his hands against the ledge of the Hummer's passenger window. And slowly, Sarnoff slipped to the ground at Sharova's feet. Officers ran past Sharova into the building, where they found Alexei's dead body propped up against the window and Dimitri, with a bullet wound in his lower abdomen.

It was only out of the corner of his eye that he noticed Calleigh being rolled on a gurney into an ambulance. "Wait!" he shouted as they were closing up the back. Horatio turned and watched as Eric pounded on the back doors, pounding and pounding until the ambulance stopped and he was allowed to scramble inside. And as the Ambulance screamed it's way down the street, he caught Jake's eyes. The younger man was standing at the corner of the lot, his gun hanging down by his side and his shoulders hunched over. He nodded his head and Jake answered it with the briefest of smiles, as he walked away.


	12. Chapter 12

_Four months later._

Calleigh lay contentedly in the bed, soaking up the morning sun as she heard the sounds of Eric in the kitchen, floating down the hall. She could hear a few pots clanking and the sound of Andrew's laughter and she sighed to herself as she sat up in the bed and reached over to the side table to grab a hair tie and pull her hair back into a neat ponytail. She heard a few faint squeaks from her left and grinned uncontrollably as she carefully climbed out of bed, still a little sore, and made her way over to the crib.

"Good morning." She smiled down at the little face looking up at her. Grinning because her eyes were an even brighter green than her own and her smile was just like her fathers. "How are you?" She patted the baby's belly and she made a gurgling sound that caused Calleigh to laugh a little. "Stay like this forever," she whispered, holding her baby's little hand in her own as she leant over the crib.

"I think that might be a little bit impossible."

Calleigh stood up quickly, spinning around to see Eric, with Andrew on his hip and a plate of pancakes in the other hand, standing in the doorway. "I can hope," she smirked, narrowing her eyes at the way his eyes scrutinized her pajama pants. "What?"

"Oh, nothing," he smirked, making his way over to the bed and dumping Andrew on it as he placed the plate of pancakes on the side table. "I've just stopped wondering where you can find so many pairs of pajama pants covered in 9mm Berettas." Calleigh chuckled as he wrapped his arms around her waist and dipped low to place a tender kiss on her lips.

"Hey, when is everyone coming?" Calleigh questioned, only now setting her eyes on the clock, seeing it was nearly ten o'clock in the morning.

"Around twelve." He waggled his eyebrows, dipping his hands beneath her shirt and running his fingers along her lower back.

"Eric," she breathed, wanting what he was doing but having to force him to stop. "I'm not ready yet." She smiled apologetically and Eric nodded, kissing her lips again chastely.

"Not to mention the fact there are two pairs of crazy green eyes, watching us." He gestured with his eyes, towards Andrew sitting up on their bed with his hands on the wooden bedpost. Then looked down into the crib at the baby staring up at her parents.

"Yes," Calleigh laughed. "There is that."

"Alright," Eric clapped his hands. Let s get ready for this christening. Bouncing over to the bed, he swept Andrew up in his arms and made airplane noises as he swung him around the room, eliciting a squeal of excitement from the boy. "Come on, you; let's go make a mess while Mommy has a shower."

"No mess!" Calleigh yelled after them, as they bolted down the hall.

She looked down into the crib to see Mareike's large eyes still staring up at her and she pointed toward the door with her thumb. "Don't hurry to catch up to them," she grinned. "We southern girls will do our own thing."

**

"Calleigh, she's so beautiful," Alexx grinned, holding her little name-sake in her arms as the girl squeaked and squirmed and carried on, everything but tears. Calleigh smiled, straightening her baby's shawl as Alexx's motherly instinct forced her to start rocking little Mareike involuntarily. Sometimes Calleigh wondered if she even noticed she was doing it.

"Yes, she is," Horatio agreed, stepping up beside Calleigh and she nudged him with her elbow, blushing ever so slightly. "And you look wonderful, Calleigh." He smiled, leaning down to kiss her cheek before passing a small pink gift to Natalia and stepping off in the direction of Eric, dancing around the backyard with Andrew on his shoulders and Ryan throwing popcorn at them.

"I had a moment, where I thought we weren't going to get here," Calleigh admitted and Alexx reached out her free arm, wrapping it around her shoulders and pulling Calleigh into her embrace.

"Hey," she soothed. "You're here. That's what matters."

Calleigh nodded; she knew that. But those few days she'd spent in the hospital as they scanned Mareike and ran test after test to make sure the knife hadn't ruptured her uterus, she'd been terrified.

"Hi Lambchop." Calleigh smiled as she turned in Alexx's arms to see her dad coming up behind her with a giant teddy bear. "Where's this granddaughter of mine."

"Hi Dad." Calleigh kissed his cheek and grinned as Alexx traded Duke, the baby for the bear and headed off inside to put it with the rest of Mareike's presents. "It's good to see you." Calleigh watched as her father gently ran his fingers across Mareike's brow, making her frown and he laughed when her dark little eyebrows knitted together.

"Hey, Cal," Calleigh turned suddenly, when she felt Eric's hand on her shoulder and she turned towards him, only to look up into his eyes and see that he was looking in the other direction. Standing by the back gate, with a small gift wrapped in white paper with a pink ribbon, was Alexander Sharova. Smiling softly, Calleigh patted his arm and headed toward the man.

She could feel that Eric was watching her, as well as Horatio from where he was sitting atop the low garden wall, beside Andrew and Ryan rolling a ball across the grass. She held her hand out to him, gesturing for him to come in, welcoming him into the yard. He hesitated and she noticed him catch Carmen's eye from across the yard, dropping his eyes to the ground as Calleigh reached for his elbow and led him over to where Eric stood, waiting.

"You're welcome here," Calleigh whispered, linking her arm with his and slowly, he turned his eyes up to her. "You saved me. You're always welcome here, Alexander." Stopping, halfway between the gate and Eric, Sharova grasped her arm.

"No," he stated softly. "You've saved me."

Calleigh nodded, swallowing deeply. "Come on." She held his hand, dragging him across the yard to where her Dad was holding her daughter. Alexx and Natalia were standing on the back step, each with a wine glass in their hand, watching as Eric was trying his best to make Mareike laugh, though failing rather miserably. Ryan had Andrew hanging off his back as he and Horatio, who had his hands tucked in his pockets, made their way over to the little gathering. Calleigh stepped into the middle of the group and smiled toward her dad, holding her arms out to take Mareike from him and she turned with the baby nestled in her arms, toward Sharova.

"This," she grinned when she felt Eric's hand pressed against her back, between her shoulder blades. "Is Mareike Alexxandra Delko, your granddaughter."

He touched her forehead gently, brushing his thumb across her tiny cheek before he reached up to embrace Eric. Eric hugged him back and thanked him with his eyes before Sharova took a step back, placing his small gift on a nearby table as their friends and family slowly surrounded the baby. And he drifted into the background. He caught Lieutenant Caine's eye as he too, stepped out from the crowd and he nodded.

It was over now.

Eric noticed Calleigh glance toward the gate, and he saw that Horatio was leading Sharova away, with his hand subtly gripping the older man's wrist. They all knew that Sharova had to pay for his crimes. Now that none of them were in danger, it was time for him to serve his sentence so, with a hand gently cupping her cheek, he kissed her softly and they turned back towards their friends and their daughter.

The End.


End file.
